


So Henry, you want to start a YouTube channel?

by writeanddontstop



Category: Henry Cavill - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, occasional smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 52,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27120121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeanddontstop/pseuds/writeanddontstop
Summary: Twenty five year old YouTuber Sandy Choi has no idea that one of her five million subscribers is the one and only Henry Cavill. When he asks her to help him out with starting his own YouTube channel, she falls more and more in love with her. But she should’ve known that dating one of the most desirable bachelors, does come with a prize.
Relationships: Henry Cavill/Asian Female character, Henry Cavill/Original Character(s), Henry Cavill/Original Female Character(s), Henry Cavill/Sandy Choi
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

It has been about three months since Henry Cavill stumbled upon Sandy Choi’s YouTube channel and he is thanking the YouTube algorithms every single day for recommending it to him. He was surprised that he never heard about her before, since her channel is pretty big and well known, but maybe he is too old to keep up to date with YouTubers nowadays.

He binge watched her videos, watching clips from her from three years ago when she started her channel. Seeing her grow from a twenty two year old college student, to a successful YouTuber and young adult author, impresses Henry. He felt like he didn’t have his life together at that age at all and she seems so at ease. She has achieved great thing so far and watching her vlogs, helps him take his mind off his own life and the stress that sometimes comes with it.

He has a YouTube account, but only uses it to be subscribed to her channel and liking her videos. He doesn’t want to miss any of her updates on her channel. Henry is plopped on his couch, cuddling with Kal when he gets a notification.

 **Sandy Choi has uploaded a new video.** Without thinking twice he opens the YouTube app on his iPad. He shouldn’t be this obsessed with a twenty five year old YouTuber, but it’s something about her aesthetic, about her calm way of talking and how she takes the viewers with her. It’s like being there with her and God, does he want to spend some time with her, even if she is just editing a new video, her book or is taking them with her during photoshoots.

The video loads and he gives it a thumbs up before the video has even started. Kal places his head on Henry’s lap, sighing deeply, as if the big fur ball knows that his owner will not give him any attention for the next fifteen minutes.

The slow song fills his living room, as he watches her introduction. They’re all snippets of today’s vlog, since he has never seen the footage before. Seeing her smiling in the camera, makes his heart flutter.

He feels like a teenager again, with the way he has this permanent grin plastered on his face, every time she posts things and he watches the entire video.

‘It’s the first of July,’ Sandy says, as she is sitting in front of her mirror, trying to fix her hair. Her make-up is all set and done. It’s very minimal, like usual, but with a brighter pink lipstick. ‘And that means in three days it’s the Fourth of July and I won’t be spending it in LA.’

Henry looks at his phone, to see that this was filmed two days ago. With the lighting speed she edits, he often wonders if she has some sort of magic powers.

‘It’s pretty weird actually,’ Sandy continues, ‘not to spend time with family on the Fourth. I moved here about seven months ago and ever since I stepped a foot in London, my parents have been sending me some serious threats about how I should fly back to LA on the Fourth of July. My birthday, Thanksgiving, they don’t care about that, weirdly enough.’

Henry lives in London, but he has yet to bump into her. He recognizes the places she visits and when he visits them, he never sees her, though he keeps his eyes out, praying for her to be there. God, he wishes he would just bump into her, though he has no idea what to say to her. _Hi there, I’m Henry Cavill and I’m obsessed with your videos?_ He’ll probably scare her away.

He watches the entire vlog intently, as Sandy is taking the viewers with her for a stroll in the park, a nice cafe that he now wants to visit and eventually she goes to the dance studio.

She is a great dancer and he sometimes wonders why she’s not doing anything with it. The way she moves her slender body and knows how to control it, is absolutely mesmerizing. She posted a few dance covers on her channel, but she’s always alone. Never dancing with someone. He wonders if she comes up with these dances herself, whether or not she is free styling.

The video is almost over, yet he doesn’t want it to be over. She could make vlogs that are twenty four hours long, and he would watch it in one sitting. She’s crouched down in front of the camera, still in the dance studio, while she pulls out her hair tie, letting her long dark brown locks fall over her shoulders. ‘So,’ she says with a soft smile, ‘I’m sorry today was a pretty boring day. It’s just that I have been spending so much time editing my newest novel, that I just couldn’t read the last two chapters anymore, so I’ll be doing that tomorrow or later this week. I work ahead of schedule anyway, so I have some leverage. I just wanted to get a nice and quiet day in, so I’m going home now and maybe rewatch something on Netflix. I’m not in the mood for something new, since I have to focus on understanding the story, you know, so I think the Witcher will do for now. Haven’t had my fair share of Henry Cavill today.’

Henry can’t seem to focus on the last part of the vlog, where she wishes everyone a good day and the outro starts. She is going to rewatch the Witcher? Meaning, she has already watched it? She hasn’t had her fair share of him today?

_What does that even mean?_

And the way she said his name, he is going to die if he would rewatch that part.

Someone calls him and he picks up without looking. ‘Yeah?’ he says when he answers the phone, still living a bit on cloud nine.

‘For the love of God, man, you’re getting more and more impersonal every time I call,’ he hears his friend Jackson say from the other end of the line. ‘Where the fuck are you, man? We were supposed to meet each other like five minutes ago.’

Henry jumps up from his couch. ‘Crap, I forgot.’

‘Figured.’

‘I’ll be there in a second.’ He storms to the hallway, to find his running shoes, but he has to walk upstairs for them.

‘You’re always on time. What happened today?’

‘I was watching something.’

Jackson starts to laugh from the other side of the line. ‘Let me guess: a certain someone uploaded her newest vlog? Does her name start with an S and end with andy Choi?’

‘Very funny.’ Jackson was never supposed to find out about this guilty pleasure of his, but somehow Jackson did find out, like he always does. Sometimes Henry hates his friend, since he can read him way too well and pesters him afterwards.

‘Well, hope it was worth it,’ Jackson says. Henry can hear the smile in his voice and that means that he is going to mention this during their entire run.

Henry rushes outside after he slipped on his running shoes. ‘It was totally worth it,’ he says. Knowing he’ll tell Jackson anyways, he adds: ‘She said my name, you know.’

‘Shut up.’

‘I’m not,’ Henry says with a smile.

‘She honest to God said your name?’

‘Yeah and she is rewatching the Witcher.’ Henry can’t seem to get the permanent grin off his face. He hears her say it over and over in his head, visualizing it with the lovely smile on her face.

‘You need to fucking grow some balls, follow her on Instagram and slide into her DM’s. Everyone does that nowadays.’

‘I’m not going to do that.’

‘No, what you are going to do is bother me with questions like: “Why is she so pretty?” and “When am I going to run into her?”. Like I can answer those. It’s obvious that she is simply rewatching the Witcher because of the way you look. Everyone on earth is into you, why wouldn’t she?’

Henry clears his throat, before he says: ‘See you in three minutes.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For this story I made a channel introduction for Sandy Choi's YouTube channel. check it out right here:  
> https://keanureevesisbae.tumblr.com/post/624522287092301824/this-is-sandy-choi-and-the-channel-trailer-for-her

It is finally done. I somehow finished the final edits of my newest novel. I mean, I love the book with all my heart and I do think that it’s one of the best books I’ve ever written so far, but if I have to read it one more time, I’m going to scream. In about a week, the advanced reader copies will go to the first beta readers. It’s a nerve wrecking part, but it does mean that the moment my book is going to be on the shelves, is one step closer.

To celebrate this glorious event, I decide to go my favorite cafe and edit my next YouTube video. Other people meditate, do yoga or get some exercise in to relax. For me editing is my form of relaxation.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would have five million subscribers. Five million people around the globe enjoy watching my vlogs, while I highly doubt I’m that interesting. Sure, I nowadays do photoshoots, some editorials and I still dance quite a lot, but besides that, I’m homebody, who writes a lot and to get out of the house, visits cafes. 

I grab my backpack and start packing my laptop, the charger and my AirPods. I’m tempted to bring my Nintendo Switch with me, so I can play some Animal Crossing (I’ve been kind of neglectful of my island, sorry Tom Nook), but I leave my Switch in its charger.

Before I leave my apartment, I take a quick selfie, to upload for my Instagram Stories. It’s just a simple mirror selfie, showing off my outfit. Since it’s pretty hot outside (it’s July tenth and London has been trapped in a very intense heatwave), I opted for some high waisted denim shorts, a simple white crop top and some matching white sneakers. I do bring a white blazer with me, since the cafe usually has its air-conditioning on and I don’t want to freeze to death.

To be honest, before I got famous on YouTube, I never was impressed with my looks, my style or my life really. I had to celebrate my twenty first birthday alone, to realize I was pretty much wasting my life. Because of the weather, my plans to travel back to my family were cancelled and when I was staring at the cupcake with one candle on it, I realized I barely had memories from my time in college and I was already in year two.

I started to document certain moments in my life, but with all the footage I had of one whole week, I could make a two minute video out of it. But everything I filmed, had to be extravagant and then I asked myself: why does it have to be extravagant to be important enough to film? I should live my own life like I’m the main character, not a side character. I should romanticize life more. All of the sudden, I began noticing how beautiful the sky would look when I went outside for a walk, how the flowers start to bloom when it’s spring and how cozy certain cafes are.

When I uploaded my first YouTube video, I barely had subscribers, but all of the sudden more than thousand people thought my life was interesting enough to watch and a whole year later, I had 200k subscribers. I always figured that it would stay around that number, but once I graduated, published a book and moved to London, my subscriber count went up with a rapid speed. My 500k subscriber hit was unbelievable, my one million subscriber hit was beyond me, but hitting five million subscribers… It’s weird and thank God I have now reached a certain plateau, because seeing my subscriber count going up with the speed that it went back in the day, scared the living shit out of me. 

Once I’m at my favorite cafe, I order a cappuccino and some vanilla cake, before I sit down and get ready for some editing. I used to spend way too much time on editing my videos, but now I finally have found a way to be more efficient.

Time ticks by. I see multiple people leave, I order some ice tea and another soda to keep hydrated and finally I take my AirPods out and put them in their case. I’ve been here for a few hours now and I maybe should leave. I don’t want to overstay my welcome here.

Before I can get up, my phone rings and I pick up when I see it’s Lacey. We met on the plane to London. She went to UCLA, but moved back to England after she was done with school. She told me about what she was going to do in London—becoming a librarian and honestly, that’s a dream—and somehow we hit it off. She was my first and only friend here in London. Of course, through her I met multiple people that I like, but I’m always a bit awkward around them, just like I’m shy around practically anyone I have never met.

‘Hi La—’

‘I have a new fling and he is having a party tonight,’ she simply interrupts me.

‘So much for a hello,’ I chuckle. ‘What fling was this again?’

‘This is the guy I met at the zoo.’ For someone who is a librarian, she meets an awful lot of guys. When I think of a librarian, I think of an older lady with a pencil skirt and grey hair in an updo, but not Lacey, who rocks short skirts like no other. She usually has a new guy every week, but the guy from the zoo… I don’t know if I remember correctly, but I think he is around for more than a week.

‘Hasn’t he been around for like two weeks?’ I ask her.

‘Yes, he is.’

‘And you aren’t tired of him yet?’ I start to pack my bag, while I clutch the phone between my ear and shoulder. ‘What was his name again?’

‘His name is Jackson and he is such a handsome guy, so you want to join us for the party? You can say no, Sandy, because this guy has parties every other week.’

‘I just finished my deadline for the new book,’ I say. ‘I think I just want to chill at home, to be honest.’

‘Totally understand. You are one a hard working woman and I know that parties can be pretty stressful for you.’ I can hear her smile through her voice. ‘I’m really proud of you for finishing that book, always remember that.’

‘Thanks, Lacey. Say hi to Jackson from me and tell him I’ll meet him soon. If he is still around then, of course.’

Lacey starts to laugh. ‘Oh, this one will be still around. I really like this guy and every morning, he sends me a good morning text, including a bad joke.’

‘That is oddly adorable.’ I wave to the barista’s as I leave the cafe. Shit, it’s hot. Like I’m stepping into an oven. Thank God I packed my white bucket hat and I put it on, to prevent my dark hair from frying my brain.

‘It is. Oh, he is calling me. Love you, doll.’

‘Love you too. Have fun tonight.’ I hang up the phone, while I move slowly through the streets of London. I’ve never really been a party type. For me it’s always a chore, never a pleasant event.

Being heavily introverted as I am, I enjoy my time reading on the couch, being by myself. Sometimes I wished I had an animal to keep me company, but my landlord is an asshole and prohibits any sort of pet. Maybe one day I can finally move out here, find myself a better place and become happy there with a nice dog.

Maybe tonight I can film my newly updated evening routine. I haven’t done that in ages and a lot has changed since the last time I did it. For a second I’m doubting my earlier decision of not going to the party with Lacey, but I shake off that thought.

Tonight I’m staying home.

As usual.

⟢⟡⟣

Who needs an alarm, when the sun can wake you up, nearly blinding you in the process? I roll around in my bed and am about to drift away again, continuing the beautiful dream of me being wrapped in Henry Cavill’s thick arms on this Sunday morning, when my phone rings.

Groaning I push myself up, grabbing my phone from the nightstand. I sigh deeply when I see it’s Lacey who video calls me. ‘Why on earth do you want to video chat with me?’ I ask her with a sleepy voice, still groggy from just waking up. I rub my eyes, hoping that that will wake me up. After I filmed my summer night routine, I fell fast asleep and when I look at my alarm clock, I slept a whole nine hours.

_Well done, Sandy._

‘I have been trying to call you since five a.m.. Why aren’t you picking up your phone?’ Lacey asks impatiently, looking genuinely annoyed.

‘Sometimes I wonder if you even hear yourself. I was asleep at five a.m., as a normal person does.’

Lacey rolls her big doll like eyes. She actually looks like those porcelain dolls, the same ones that my creepy neighbor back home collected and put on display for the entire neighborhood to see. Blonde curls bounce around her face and for someone who partied the entire night, she actually looks really good and is way too awake. ‘I have a story for you and normally I don’t want to talk you into feeling guilty, but for this occasion I’ll make an exception.’

‘That doesn’t explain why you want to video chat with me.’

‘Just wait.’

I sit up straight in bed, placing a pillow against my back, so I can lean against the headboard. I pull my knees up to my chest, to lean my arm on. ‘Tell me, Lacey, what happened?’

‘So, I arrived at the party around eleven and Jackson was waiting for me at the door. He was being a true gentleman, kissed my cheek and when we walked inside, he kept introducing me to people, saying how at the end of the night, I was going to be his girl. To spoil the end for you: I am his girl now and we had steamy sex back at his place.’

As fantastic as that may sound for her, why does she the need to share this with me? I mean, I am happy for her that this Jackson guy is a nice guy and if she is actually going to date him, that’s great, but I don’t want to hear it. It’ll make me feel even more single.

‘ _Anyways_ , while Jackson is introducing me, I feel someone is staring at me. So I look around me, only to find one guy watching me. I try to squint you know, to see who that guy is and I think to myself: wow, that guy looks an awful lot like Henry Cavill.’

I start to chuckle. ‘How much did you have to drink at that moment?’

‘None, totally sober. Jackson pulls me with him and eventually introduces me to his friend _Henry Cavill_.’

Oh my God, I think I forgot how to breath. ‘You are telling me that the guy who you met at the zoo, who is probably more than just a fling to you and threw a party last night, is friends with _the_ Henry Cavill?’

‘The same Henry Cavill you refuse to follow on Instagram, because you can’t handle that much gorgeousness on your feed.’

No need to attack me like that, I think to myself. I just woke up and was hit with the realization that I could’ve met Henry Cavill last night, but I didn’t want to go to a party. Tip for next time: always say yes when this Jackson guy is throwing a party.

‘Moving on with the story, Henry—yes, I’m on a first name basis with him—kept gawking at me and finally he asked me if we knew each other. I shrugged, telling him how I’m just a simple librarian, that usually doesn’t mingle with hot celebrities. Later on, I don’t know how exactly Jackson, Henry and I got to that topic, but I casually said something along the lines of that I’m friends with the Sandy Choi. Henry nearly loses all the color in his face and Jackson starts to laugh his ass off.’

_Where is this story going? What the hell is going on?_

Lacey starts to laugh out loud and manages to add: ‘Jackson tells me that mister Henry Cavill is a huge fan of yours and literally drops everything whenever you post a new video and how he had an almost heart attack when you mentioned him in your July first vlog. According to Jackson, he has been questioning your comment saying that you haven’t had your fair share of Henry Cavill today ever since.’

This isn’t happening. This honestly can’t be happening right now. Lacey is totally messing with me. ‘Sure.’

‘I can see you are questioning my fantastic story, so let me show you this then.’ She shares her screen with me and shows me a picture of her, this Jackson fella and Henry fucking Cavill, looking insanely handsome as he usually does. His hair is slightly growing out, revealing some lovely curls of his and he is wearing a white blouse. The buttons are hanging on for dear life. I’m mentally kicking myself. Why didn’t I go to this party? I mean, I would’ve probably embarrassed myself, but still: I could’ve admired him from a far. In real life.

Lacey stops sharing her screen with me and smiles widely in the camera. ‘And Jackson mentioned something about pressuring him into following you on Instagram and sliding into your DM’s, but mister Cavill is petrified of doing such thing, so… I decided to give him your number and I think he already texted you.’

I swipe the video chat away, while I start looking through my Whatsapp chats. I see I have some messages from my manager, my editor, my dad and an _unknown number._

‘Did he text you?’

I click on the chat, ignore what it says and press on his profile picture. ‘It’s him,’ I say. ‘It’s really him.’ I admire the photo for a second. His thick and strong arms wrapped around his dog. God, I was dreaming about something like that just minutes ago and now all of the sudden, he has my number?

‘What did he write?’

I check the chat and see that the man wrote a paragraph, instead of multiple tiny texts. That is absolutely adorable.

‘I can see you and your grin,’ Lacey says, reminding me that I might’ve swiped away the video chat, she can indeed still see me. ‘Come on, Sandy, read it to me. I deserve to know what he wrote, since I’m the reason he has your number and texted you in the first place.’

She has a valid point and to be fair, I’d probably share it with her anyways. Best to do it now. ‘Hi Sandy, I swear I’m not a creepy stalker. I’m Henry Cavill and I met your friend Lacey at the party last night. She was kind enough to give me your number. I have no idea what she told you about last night, but I just wanted to let you know that your vlogs really help me to get through my days and that you are truly an inspiration to all young people out there.’

‘This is legit the cutest thing that has ever happened!’ Lacey squeals.

Though I agree, I keep staring at the text. This is what he thinks of me? He thinks I’m an inspiration to all young people out there? My videos help him through his day? ‘I’m going to hang up,’ I say to Lacey, ‘and figure out what to text him back.’

‘Wait,’ she says, ‘you’re not going to tell me what you texted back to Henry fucking Cavill?’

I pull up our video conversation again and shake my head. ‘No, I’m not. Thank you for giving him my number, Lacey, but please don’t make a habit out of it. Thank you. Love you. Bye.’

Before I can hear what she has to say, I hang up on her and look at his text again. My heartbeat is finally normalizing again, though my palms are still sweaty. I need to text him back, because that is a polite thing to do.

But what do I text back to a man like him, especially after he told me such a nice and lovely things? I mean, how do I top that? I can tell him the things I told Lacey whenever we would watch something that he starred in. I could say that I thought he was hot in the Witcher or that they should’ve included shirtless scenes of him in Mission Impossible. I could—

_Oh my God, he is online!_

I nearly die of panic, throwing my phone away from me on the bed. Maybe hanging up on Lacey was the dumbest thing I could’ve done. I need her help. She knows what she could say to him.

Lord knows how long I’m thinking about a response and I know that I should text him back. I finally wrote something and before I can regret it, I press send.

 **Sandy:** Hi, Lacey indeed told me about last night. I honestly can’t believe that you watch my vlogs and that they help you get through your days. Hearing kind words like these from any subscriber honestly means the world to me 😊

And now we wait. He wasn’t online when I pressed send, so I probably won’t get an answer from him any ti—

_Ping._

He already answered? Oh no, no, no, I have to let this moment sink in for a second. He can’t already texted me back. Please, let this be my mother, telling me I need to take my cod liver oil, please let this be her.

 **Henry Cavill:** Do I want to know what she told you?

This sounds cheeky, I can handle cheeky. I can answer to this. I’m an adult woman, who is just texting with someone who is a fan. I can handle fan encounters.

_Sort of._

Besides, I can think about the right response, so this is only in my advantage.

 **Sandy:** Just that you are a big fan of my vlogs and drop everything when I post a new video.

 **Henry Cavill:** Right, that’s not too bad, I guess.

 **Sandy:** And that according to your friend Jackson, you almost had a heart attack when I mentioned you in my vlog and you have been questioning my fair share of Henry Cavill of today comment.

 **Henry Cavill:** Great…

 **Sandy:** It’s kind of flattering to be totally honest with you.

 **Henry Cavill:** I’m just dying of embarrassment, give me a minute.

I can’t help but to chuckle. It’s weird, that I’m actually talking to Henry Cavill right now. Who would’ve ever thought that that would happen to me? I decide not to share the Instagram and sliding into my DM’s story that Lacey shared with me.

 **Sandy:** I hope that Lacey haven’t told any embarrassing stories about me.

 **Henry Cavill:** Just that you went to Mission Impossible: Fall Out three times in the cinema and that you commented all those three times that there wasn’t enough of me in it.

Okay, now it’s my turn to die of embarrassment. I feel like he is sparing me the need to fall into a deep hole of embarrassment, since he doesn’t mention Lacey adding to it that there wasn’t enough ass and the lack of shirtlessness on his part, because I said that all those three times as well. I know my friend and I know that she told him that.

 **Sandy:** Right… I’m sorry.

 **Henry Cavill:** It was pretty flattering and good for my ego 😉

⟢⟡⟣

Henry—yes I’m on a first name basis with him now as well, but I have yet to change his name in my phone—and his texts have caused tiny disasters around my apartment.

I burned my pancakes, because he kept distracting me with texts, causing the fire alarm to go off. Because I wanted to shut the thing up, I had to stand on a chair, but my brain was still with those texts, so I nearly broke my neck when I fell off it.

While I was filling the kettle with water, I forgot the tap was still running, causing the thing to overflow with water. I stubbed my toe not once, not twice, but three times on the same table leg.

But despite that, talking to Henry has been such a nice thing all morning and the first half of the afternoon. He keeps on complimenting me on my editing, saying what his favorite moments are in my vlogs, while I on my term share about the favorite moments of his interviews, his movies. It’s obvious that we are fans of one another, so having it out in the open, doesn’t feel weird or uncomfortable.

But nothing prepares me for his latest text.

 **Henry Cavill:** I’m going out for a walk with Kal, since it’s cooling down now. You want to join us?

I know I should answer him and I should answer him now, but I keep pacing around my living room. Going out with him on a walk, means talking to him. Like using my vocal cords to communicate with him, talking to him. Am I ready for that? What if I disappoint? I’m probably going to disappoint.

I take a deep breath. You didn’t went to the party last night, so you should go now, Sandy, I tell myself. You can do it. He is inviting you, meaning he wants to hang out with you. That is a good sign.

 **Sandy:** Sure, I just need to get ready. I think I’m ready in about thirty minutes.

 **Henry Cavill:** I’ll share my location, so you know where to go to, okay?


	3. Chapter 3

Henry can’t believe that he had the guts to ask _the_ Sandy Choi to join him on his walk. He is too afraid to slide into her DM’s, let alone to follow her on Instagram, but this he can do?

He just knows that Jackson is going to haunt him with this for a very long time.

He sits on a park bench, nervously moving his leg up and down. It’s cooling down nicely and the spot he has chosen, has a little beach, with a nice lake for Kal to swim in.

Henry rethought his outfit about five times. He wanted something casual, but nothing too sloppy. Sandy always looks so put together in her vlogs and since she had to get ready, he simply knows that she’ll look absolutely stunning.

He looks at his black running shorts, that he paired with a white shirt and some black sneakers. It’s nothing too much, but he doesn’t want her to think that he is a try hard. Besides, this is probably the only outfit that doesn’t suffocate him to death, especially with the aftermaths of today’s temperatures.

He keeps out looking for her. Was it impersonal of him to just sent her his location? Should’ve he picked her up from her house? But what if she’s not comfortable with that?

God, his mind is running all over the place. Kal whines a bit, a nice distraction for a few seconds. ‘I know, but we have to wait a bit for Sandy.’

The fact that he met her friend Lacey last night during one of Jackson’s party. Normally he isn’t too keen on those parties, but this one, he felt like he should go and thank God he did. He has Sandy Choi’s number and texting her has been such a thrill. He has neglected the things he needed to do, solely so he could focus on texting her. She was funny, witty and Henry couldn’t get the idiotic grin off his face.

He stares to his left, before he finally turns his attention to his right. His breath gets caught in his throat. He admired her on her Instagram account (that he would search for every single day, because he couldn’t seem to follow her, too afraid to do so) and on her vlogs, but nothing prepared him for seeing her in real life.

She is wearing a blue and white tartan dress, with tiny sleeves. It comes halfway her thighs and she paired some old white sneakers and some socks with a lace border with it. He knows this dress, he has seen it in quite a few of her vlogs. He can sometimes barely remember the names of the interviewers who just introduced themselves, but this he remembers.

Sandy runs her fingers through her long locks and looks up from her phone, scanning the area. Her eyes finally land on him and a timid smile appears on her face, before she walks up to him.

Henry notices a small change in her body language. The way her shoulders are tense, he can tell she’s nervous. To be fair, he is too, but he knows he can hide it a lot better.

‘Hi,’ he says, holding up his hand, immediately regretting it. God, he looks like a moron.

She stops about four meters apart from him, fidgeting her hands. ‘Hi.’ Her voice matches her appearance: tiny and sweet.

‘How are you?’ he asks, shoving his hand in his pocket, not quite knowing what to do with it.

‘I’m good, thank you.’

Kal gets up from his spot and Henry realizes that he for a second forgot that he brought a dog with him. His own dog for that matter. Sandy holds out her hand when he is nearing her and she smiles. ‘Hi there,’ she says, her voice a little higher as one does when talking to an animal. ‘I never expected you to be this big.’ She scratches him behind his ears and Kal wags his tail.

‘Shall we go?’ Henry asks.

The only things he earns from her is a nod and a soft: ‘Mhm’.

Is he doing something wrong? Was he too forward by asking her to join him? He usually is never this nervous around people, around women for that matter, but Sandy Choi is doing something to him.

They watch as Kal walks in front of them, sniffing trees, marking his territory. She hasn’t said anything so far, something he doesn’t understand. They were texting for hours on end and he enjoyed himself. He loved every second of it. There was never an awkward silence and she was pretty talkative, really funny and witty.

_What has changed?_

‘What have you been doing today?’ he asks, desperately needing to get a conversation going. ‘Besides texting me.’

She finally looks up, her brown eyes meeting his. It doesn’t last long though, because she averts her eyes and stares at Kal again. She has a soft smile toying on her lips though and she says: ‘I’ve been slowly destructing my own house, because you keep on distracting me.’

He nearly buffs out his chest. ‘Oh, I have I now?’

‘Mhm.’

Kal rushes towards them. He seems to like Sandy, because he keeps on checking in on her, sniffing her hand and licking it in the process. He can’t really seem to pull himself away from Sandy and Henry totally understands. Though she has been pretty timid, it’s something about her presence that is oddly calming.

‘He likes you,’ Henry notes.

‘Good thing I like him too, then.’

‘You don’t have pets, have you?’

‘You tell me.’ She still doesn’t look at him, but he likes those tiny remarks she makes. He figures she is getting more comfortable around him. ‘I’ve heard you have been watching my vlogs intently.’

Henry can’t stop the chuckle, though his cheeks flame of embarrassment. ‘Well, you don’t have one, that I know. Is it because you don’t want one?’

‘I want a pet, preferably a dog, but my landlord doesn’t allow it. If my life wasn’t plastered on the internet, I would’ve hidden one there, but I know he watches my channel too, so that’s out of the window really.’ Her gaze falls on Kal, who sprints towards the water.

‘Shame.’

The two of them stand in the sand, staring at Kal, who is getting it in his head. The entire day he was down on the tiles in the bathroom, since that’s the coldest spot in his home. Right now, feeling the refreshment of the water, it causes him to go crazy. Henry has seen it before this week, whenever he would walk him here at the end of the day, so Kal could cool off.

He watches his dog jumping in and out of the water, running circles on the grass around them. ‘He is mad,’ he mentions.

She snickers softly. ‘He seems like a sweetheart.’

Henry looks to the side. She chewing on the inside of her cheek, but finally Sandy actually looks up at him. She doesn’t look away instantly. ‘What?’ she asks him. ‘Is there something on my face?’

‘No, no,’ he says. ‘Just that—’

Before he can finish his sentence, Kal rushes through the gap between them, only he bumps with his wet side against her legs. She wasn’t totally prepared for the force that comes with Kal. He knows from watching her vlogs that she can be a klutz from time to time and standing here in the sand, can’t be good. He sees that she is losing her balance, so he quickly steps forward and wraps his arm around her waist, preventing her from falling backwards in the sand.

It was a reflex, but now he is actually holding her, his hand on her side, hers resting on his bicep. His heart nearly beats out of his chest, to a point where every heartbeat hurts a bit. He never would’ve thought that he’d be this close to her. The smell of her perfume, a sweet flowery scent.

She quickly blinks her eyes and swallows hard, not breaking eye contact with him. He notices her pupil enlarges a bit in her dark eyes, though the sun is shining on them. ‘Thanks,’ she whispers.

‘I’m sorry, he can be a bit—’

‘It’s okay,’ Sandy interrupts him, a blush apparent on her cheeks.

Then Henry realizes he is still holding her and he retreats his arm, her soft hand grazing over his lower arm and his wrist. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Mhm.’

That mhm again. Is that a good mhm, a bad mhm? ‘Oh, no, your shoes and legs,’ Henry notices, cringing at the sight of how she looks. God, he shouldn’t have gone here. Her shoes are marked with a print of Kal’s muddy paw and her legs have stripes of mud on it.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ she says. ‘It’s okay. Comes with a dog, right?’

‘I’m truly sorry,’ Henry continues to apologize, but yet again she simply shakes her head.

‘Really, don’t worry about it, Henry. It’s totally fine. I have a washing machine back home.’

The way his name sounds when she says it… He all of the sudden likes his name a lot more. Kal rushes towards them and with a stern voice, Henry tells Kal to stop. He obeys, but Henry knows the look on the face of his furry companion. He can see it in the way the big American Akita stands. The dog wants to shake the water and mud off of himself. Henry pulls Sandy by her arm and hides her behind his broad body, while the droplets of water mixed with mud cover his face and his white shirt.

To make things even worse, Kal places his front legs on Henry’s chest, wanting to lick his face. ‘Down, Kal, down.’

Kal stands with all of his four paws on the sand again and he hears a soft giggle from behind him. He turns around, only to see Sandy with her hands covering her mouth. ‘How do I look?’ he asks her, an amused smile on his face. He looks at the prints on his chest and he can only imagine how his face looks like, judging from his arms.

‘Like you need a bath.’ She smiles at him and it’s the brightest smile he has seen of her so far. He just knows that he’ll dream about that exact smile, the way her eyes brighten up as well. ‘Thank you,’ she says, ‘you are truly a gentleman, Henry.’

⟢⟡⟣

The silence between them isn’t awkward anymore, but it’s actually kind of soothing as they continue their walk. Slowly they are talking a bit more, about the sky, the hot air balloons they see and she constantly tells him where she sees a cat, so he can brace himself before Kal pulls the leash, wanting to chase the animals.

Henry decides to live up to the title she has given him, and actually walk her home now, like a real gentleman. ‘What was it like setting up a YouTube channel?’ Henry decides to ask her.

‘It was terrifying,’ she honestly admits. ‘But was the best decision I’ve ever made. Before I uploaded my first video, I made like seven videos prior, but they weren’t good enough in my eyes.’

‘You’re a perfectionist?’

‘Pretty much. Why?’

‘I was wondering,’ Henry says, as they stop walking, indicating they are at her apartment building. ‘I’ve been thinking about setting up a channel of my own.’

‘Really?’ she asks him. ‘That’s exciting. What kind of channel?’

‘Something with maybe building some pc’s or work out videos, tips, gaming, maybe even some vlogs, if I’m interesting enough. I don’t know, but… Why are you smiling, Sandy?’ He crosses his arms in front of his chest, looking at the petite woman who is standing in front of him.

‘You thought that uploading those videos on IGTV wasn’t enough already? Give your fans a break, Henry.’ She runs her fingers through her hair and adds: ‘But I think that it’s really great that you want to do that.’

‘Could you help me out?’ he blurts out.

Sandy’s eyes widen. ‘You want me to help you out? Why?’

‘Because you are talented. I feel like you are the person that could help me out. If you have time of course. I mean, I get that you have more to do than help an idiot create a YouTube channel. You know what, forget I mentioned it. I hope you have a pleasant evening and we’ll probably meet again or not, because I totally ruined it by suggesting this.’ After his ramble, Henry turns around to walk away with Kal.

Fuck, he is so stupid. God, why did he even tell her this? She is probably scared away now and he totally understands. It almost sounds like that is the reason why he wanted to talk to her.

‘Wait,’ Sandy says, causing not only Henry, but also Kal to listen. ‘I want to help you out. It would be my pleasure to help you setting up your channel.’

‘Really?’ He looks at her after he turned around. ‘You’d do that?’

‘Mhm, only you have to know that I take this kind of thing very seriously.’ She is holding her keys in her hand. ‘Does tomorrow work for you?’

She wants to meet with him again! He didn’t scare her away, he actually made her come back. He holds back his excitement. ‘Tomorrow works for me. I’ll text you the address tonight, okay?’

‘Okay.’ She fumbles with the keys, staring at them, before she makes eye contact with him again. She bites her lower lip and finally says: ‘I’ll see you tomorrow then, Henry.’

‘See you tomorrow, Sandy.’

Sandy pushes in the key in the lock and holds up her hand to wave at him. He quickly waves back and he watches her step inside. ‘Did you hear that, Kal?’ he asks the dirty dog, who he definitely needs to bathe when they get home. ‘She’s coming over tomorrow. I should buy something sweet for her. She likes chocolate, so I should get that for her. Oh fuck, I need to clean up. I don’t want her to think that I live in a bachelor pad.’

Grateful that he wore his running shoes, he takes a sprint with Kal, a smile on his face and it doesn’t fall off, even when he is already home.

Sandy Choi is coming over tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

So, this is where Henry Cavill lives. It’s a cute home, but never figured he’d be the one that would live here. I take a few deep breaths, but it doesn’t calm down my nerves. I look down at my white dress and wonder if it’s too much.

I think it’s too much.

I don’t know what I could wear to meet him. I was thinking about a short and a top, but felt that was a little bit too revealing, but come to think of it, this dress is pretty short.

I still don’t know, it looks almost wedding dressy. I shouldn’t have worn this. I stare at my Dr. Martens sandals, thanking the fashion angels that I didn’t wear the cute white heels that I initially had in mind. The only thing I would be missing, was a bouquet.

I grab my phone from my purse, to check what time it is. I was supposed to be at his place at eleven and 10:59.

I walk up to the door and press the doorbell. I hear a loud bark, causing me to jump. From behind the door, there are some stumbling noises and I can even hear his long and deep voice. The door opens with a crack and Henry greets me with a bright smile. ‘Hi Sandy.’

Holy shit, is this even legal? Why on earth is he wearing a tank top? Why would he do that to me? What is the point of doing such thing? Is he actively trying to kill me, because if so, it’s working. I can barely function anymore, since his arms are really distracting. I mean, I noticed it yesterday, I noticed it on the best video online, the PC building one, but now…

Holy shit, I can’t even seem to find the right way to greet him.

‘Are you okay, Sandy?’ he asks, when I haven’t said anything at all.

‘Yes, yes, I’m fine,’ I say, way too quickly. I clear my throat, not knowing what to say to him.

‘Please,’ he says, ‘come in.’ Henry takes a step to the side and I walk past him. He has a nicely decorated house, something that I hadn’t expected. It’s really neat too, didn’t expect that from him. ‘You want something to drink?’

‘Water would be nice.’ Kal has noticed me too, because he slowly struts towards me, his butt wiggling from side to side, while he wags his tail. ‘Hi, you big ball of floof. You are nice and clean again.’

‘It was pretty hard washing him in the tiny bath tub,’ Henry recounts and hands me a glass of cold water, with some ice cubes in it.

I clear my throat. ‘Right,’ I say. Standing in front of him shouldn’t make me feel this awkward, especially not after yesterday. I slowly managed to loosen up, but from the looks of it, we are back from square one. I feel my hands shake a bit from the nerves and my shoulders feel painfully tense.

It doesn’t help that Henry is this tall, this bulky, the complete opposite of me. I can’t seem to make eye contact with him and I curse myself for that. Why do I even feel tears out of pure frustration burning in my eyes?

‘You play video games, Sandy?’ Henry asks me. His voice is sweet and thick at the same time.

I scratch Kal behind his ear. ‘Just some Animal Crossing.’

‘Is it worth the hype?’

‘Mhm.’

‘Why do you play it?’

Though it almost feels like a third degree, I’m happy that he is asking me questions about simple things like Animal Crossing and not those deep questions about the existence of life. ‘It’s relaxing,’ I confess. ‘I need that from time to time.’ I look up again, when I know for a fact that my eyes aren’t glossy anymore.

‘So, you don’t play other games?’

I shake my head, not ready to confess that I sometimes grab my old Nintendo DS to play Style Boutique on it. I mean, I like Henry a lot, but sharing this, is one—or five—bridges too far.

‘I think you played this one,’ he says with a confident smile, while he walks to the television.

Is he wearing some perfume? I inhale again, only to be met with a mix of salty and sweet, the perfect combination for a male perfume. He didn’t wear that yesterday and I know that, because I was pretty damn close to him and you bet your ass I took a sniff.

Henry holds up two Mario Kart wheels and I see the remotes are already attached to it. ‘Look at that precious smile,’ he says and only then I realize that I’m indeed smiling. _Did he just call my smile precious?_ ‘You want to play?’

‘Mhm.’ I walk up to the couch and place my glass on a coaster. He hands me a wheel with a remote and plops on the couch, as he starts up the Wii. There is only one more spot left for me to sit and that is right next to him.

As if Kal senses I’m hesitating, he pushes his nose against my leg and I sit down next to Henry. I feel his warmth radiating against my skin, causing me to nearly hyperventilate. His bulky arm accidentally touches me and I clear my throat, not knowing what I should do with myself. Sitting next to him on this couch, is less intimidating than standing in front of him, but it’s still pretty scary.

And I know that I shouldn’t be scared of him, but I can’t help but feel nervous. ‘Are you any good?’ I ask quietly.

‘I always kick Jackson’s ass.’ He looks to the side and our eyes meet. ‘But he is so so. Usually ends at sixth place.’

We pick out our characters (he is Donkey Kong, while I opt for baby Daisy) and once we have chosen our vehicles, Henry leaves it up to me to choose an entire cup for us to race. ‘Special Cup.’

‘You know Rainbow Road is on that cup?’ he mentions.

‘I’m aware, yes.’ I get ready for the first course: Dry Dry Ruins. ‘Good luck,’ I say to him.

‘You think I need it?’ His eyebrow is cocked and he has a smug grin on his face. Besides him getting more and more confident, he is also getting more handsome every passing minute. ‘I’m really good, Sandy.’

‘I figured. Just, don’t hold back for me, okay?’

‘Sure?’ he asks. ‘Because… I don’t want you to feel bad or anything afterwards.’ _That’s adorable, oh my God._

‘I’m not a sore loser, so just race like you would usually do.’

The first race is about to start and we both watch the countdown. I push in the right button at the exact moment I know it’s going to give me a better start. Baby Daisy shoots from the 11th place to the sixth, while Henry stutters Donkey Kong to tenth place (from twelfth, if I may add so). While I soar over the roads, pushing myself to a first place, I manage to stay there for the rest of the race, making the gap between me and second place (and everyone else) bigger and bigger as the race continues. I race over the finish line, making a wheelie as I do so and I watch Henry trying to get himself from seventh to sixth place. He is muttering to himself, growing more and more annoyed.

He finally crosses the finish line. ‘I do need luck,’ he mutters. ‘Can’t believe you kicked my ass like that.’

Our second course is Moonview Highway and I snort every time Henry gets run over by a car or a truck and even drives himself off the road multiple times. He ends up in twelfth place and he is visibly frustrated now.

I shouldn’t be thinking like that, but he looks hot as hell when he’s angry like that. He could easily break the Mario kart wheel and the remote in half and knowing that he can do that, it’s something I’ll probably dream about tonight.

‘We can stop, you know,’ I say to him.

‘No, no, no,’ he says, ‘there is still a chance I can not make a total fool out of myself.’

The third course is Bowser’s Castle and this time, Henry is not a total disaster. He managed to earn himself a third place, while I’m still at number one. ‘I have come to realize and accept that I won’t be beating you, but I have to make sure I’m not losing from the computers.’

I can’t help but chuckle.

The final race is my favorite. I love Rainbow Road and know exactly how to maneuver over the roads. While I’ve crossed the finish line, Henry is still falling behind. I press the + button to pause the game. ‘Let me,’ I say and gently pull the steering wheel from his hands. I race Donkey Kong from eighth place to fourth (I’m good, but I’m not a magician. I can’t poof myself over the finish line) and when I cross the finish line, I hand him back the steering wheel. ‘Congratulations,’ I say, ‘you managed to become fifth.’

‘How on earth are you this good? This was unbelievable!’ Henry starts to laugh. ‘You were crossing the finish line twenty seconds before number two would finish, or worse, a whole minute.’

‘Back in college, we did this a lot. We even had a championship.’

‘Tell me you became first.’

I smile. ‘I did, was the best of entire UCLA, three times in a row.’

‘You never shared that on your vlogs.’

That’s cute. He really watches my videos intently, something that is insanely endearing. ‘I didn’t, no. Seemed a bit: oh look at me, you know?’

‘There is nothing wrong with flaunting,’ Henry says. ‘I mean, you do it with your dance videos right?’

I know that he has seen a lot of my videos, but thinking about him sitting on this couch, Kal pressed against his side and him watching those particular videos, makes me uncomfortable. ‘It’s barely flaunting.’

He tilts his head, I notice from the corners of my eyes. ‘You shouldn’t be this hard on yourself, Sandy,’ he says in a soft tone. ‘You are amazing, five million people and probably more watch your videos. There are a lot of people who are reading your books and…’ He doesnt finish his sentence, while he is looking for the right words to say.

‘You’ve read my books?’ I ask him.

Now he’s blushing a bit and he isn’t looking at me anymore. ‘I’ve read them,’ he admits.

I chuckle. ‘That’s sweet.’

‘But I’m not the only one who adores your videos and finish your books from cover to cover in one sitting. There are tons more and you being modest is absolutely admirable and it only makes you more likable, but there is nothing wrong with admitting that you are talented in many other ways. There is nothing wrong with saying that you are indeed amazing, because it’s true and it shows confidence.’

I bite my lip. ‘Well, fake it till you make it, isn’t that what they say?’

‘Eventually it’ll not be fake anymore.’

A deep sigh leaves my lips and I look at my hands, my thumbs fumbling together. ‘I’m sorry,’ I whisper.

‘Why are you apologizing, Sandy?’

‘That I’m like this again,’ I say. ‘I have a lot of trouble meeting new people and after yesterday…’ Why am I sharing this with him? He’ll probably think I’m the biggest whiny baby on the planet. ‘Never mind.’

‘No, no,’ Henry says, ‘tell me, please. I want to know.’

Kal sits in front of me and I place my hands on the sides of his face, scratching him. ‘I felt really good yesterday after we met, but now I feel like none of that is left. I feel like we’re starting over again. It’s just that I’m not sure what I can say to you now. And you do make it easier and I’m already less nervous and you being a total loser at Mario Kart obviously helps too… I think I don’t want you to think that I’m not having fun.’

‘Sandy,’ Henry says, ‘we’re not starting over. I’m happy that you told me this, though.’

I look up from Kal, to only notice he is already looking at me again.

‘You’re not mad?’

‘This is the last thing I should be mad about. I’m just grateful that you trust me enough to tell me this.’ He bumps his knee against mine and says: ‘I don’t think I can handle it again if I lose.’

‘Figured.’ I look around me, to find something to talk about. As if he is waiting for me to take the first step, he doesn’t say anything. ‘Do you have filming equipment?’

‘I have my phone.’

I scrunch up my nose. ‘But a camera is better. You can separate your files more easily, believe me, you’d want that.’

‘I’ll have to believe the expert on that one,’ Henry laughs.

‘Editing software?’

‘Well, I have a few computers around here, but I also have a MacBook, with iMovie on it. Heard that was pretty good. I bet you use something else.’

‘I used to use iMovie,’ I tell him, ‘but now I use Final Cut Pro. It’s around three hundred bucks, maybe a bit more.’

Henry nods. ‘So, I should buy a camera?’

‘Mhm and more.’

‘What?’

‘A hard disk, a tiny tripod, a big tripod. I was thinking you should buy like a microphone and better lightening, but that’s not really necessary. Yet.’

‘Right.’ Henry rubs his hands together and asks: ‘Want to go shopping with me?’

⟢⟡⟣

Henry spend around five hundred pounds on a camera. In a different store we bought a hard disk and indeed two tripods, though they were heavily overpriced, but Henry said that it was fine.

For the occasion, Henry put on a shirt, but this one still accentuates his arms. For a second my mind wanders to my lovely daydreams: thinking about how it would be if he’d wrap those arms around me, pulling me against his insanely strong body and kissing me on top of my head. But to not go into cardiac arrest right here and now, I decide I’ll just have to wait and dream about that when I go to sleep.

Henry is unpacking his camera and turns it on. ‘God, this is beautiful,’ he says, holding the camera up, to take a picture, while he is watching the screen. He packed everything in a blue backpack, that rests between his legs as we sit on a park bench in the shadow. He looks around him and his eyes fall on a field filled with flowers. ‘Let’s have a little photoshoot,’ he says when he turns around, to meet my eyes.

I frown. ‘What?’

‘I have to test out this camera and when I have you with me, you should be my model.’

I’m visibly confused. ‘You want to take pictures of me?’

‘Yes,’ he simply states. ‘Come on.’ He grabs his backpack and walks to the field. I follow him, but now I’m growing more nervous.

Henry Cavill wants to make pictures of me?

‘Go stand over there,’ he tells me and points to the sunflowers. I walk up to it, my legs nearly turning into jello as I stand next to the sunflower that is around my height.

He crouches down and I cock an eyebrow. ‘I’ve seen your editorials, Sandy, you’ll do amazing here. Besides, it’s just me.’

 _It’s never going to be just you, Henry, don’t you get that?_ I take a deep breath and start to pose for the pictures. He clicks his tongue, as he continues to snap pictures, telling me I’m looking beautiful, but finally the sun is frying my head. ‘Can we stop?’ I ask him. ‘I’m a sweaty mess.’

Henry starts to chuckle and looks at the screen. ‘Sure thing.’

I walk up to him, so I can look at the pictures as well and oh my God, these all look really good.

‘Wow,’ I mention. ‘Those are pretty decent.’

‘It helps when the model is easy to photograph.’

I clear my throat. What does one say to that? ‘Judging from these pictures, you’ll probably do great with filming,’ I say and together we walk back to the road again. ‘Oh look,’ I say, when Henry has put the camera in his backpack. ‘Cotton candy.’

‘Candy floss. You’re in the UK now, Sandy.’

I roll my eyes. ‘Fine, candy floss then.’

Henry tells me to wait, before he takes a few strides and he’s at the stand, buying one. I decide to watch from a far, especially when the man behind the stand wants a picture with him. I don’t want to intrude, so I wander a bit down the road, making sure that Henry can still see me.

Henry walks up to me, with a giant ball of cotton— _candy floss_ on a stick. He plucks off some of the sweet stuff. ‘Open your mouth,’ he tells me.

If that isn’t something right out of my fantasies, then I don’t know anymore. ‘You’re going to feed me?’

‘Yeah, so your hands don’t get sticky.’ Henry has a lovely smile on his face and I wonder what is he going to be like as a boyfriend? As my boyfriend to be exact.

Would he be rough, dominant and strong, like the fanfics suggest (yes, I read those) or is he soft and cuddly? Now I do suspect a bit of both.

He could be pretty dominant. I mean, he told me to open my mouth and my first reflex was wanting to ask how far open he would’ve liked it. But on the other hand, he is also pretty soft, especially towards me. He wants me to be at ease with him, keeps giving me thoughtful compliments and he even said I was beautiful and that I’m easy to photograph.

I mean, who says that kind of stuff?

Boyfriends do right?

Rolling my eyes, I open my mouth and he feeds me some of the candy floss. He retract his hand, before my lips can reach his fingers. I shouldn’t be thinking like this. I can barely look at the man from time to time, let alone if I have these kind of _impure_ thoughts.

‘Last time I had candy floss,’ he says, ‘was when I was sixteen. My friends laughed at me, because I wanted a pink one. I know they all taste the same, no matter what color, but pink is the color it’s supposed to be, right?’

I nod. ‘Agree,’ I say as the sugar dissolves on my tongue.

‘When was the last time you had it?’

‘I think I was eight. My dad took me out to the park, because we knew there was a stand where they sold _cotton candy._ We always walked passed it a few times, because my mom told us that it was really unhealthy and that your teeth would rot off if you ate it. But my mom wasn’t with us then, so we ate like three of those sticks together and we had to lie down on a park bench for about an hour, because we felt so sick.’

‘Does your mom know now?’

‘No, we’re too scared to tell her.’

Henry chuckles. ‘Are you close with your parents?’

I nod. ‘Yeah, I am. My mother reminds me every single day I should take my vitamins, to stay hydrated and not to frown, but that’s her way of showing me how much she cares. My dad texts me everyday, just telling me how his day is going.’

‘Don’t you miss them?’

‘Sometimes.’

‘Why did you even move to London?’ He plucks off some more cotton candy and brings it to my lips. Butterflies flutter inside of my stomach. I feel myself getting more relaxed around him again and him doing this, it feels so normal to us. ‘You never mentioned it in your vlogs.’

I smile, licking the sweet stuff off my lips. ‘I wanted to see the world and I earned enough money to afford it. My parents were really supportive and they wanted me to explore the world. They just hoped I was going to New York or Canada. But they are excited for me. They always watch my videos and even wake up in the middle of the night if I post in the mornings. They have been there for me since the beginning and though I’m in another continent, I feel like they are always right there.’

‘Isn’t it scary?’ he asks. ‘Being in another continent, without your parents at like twenty five?’

‘Every single day.’

We walk down the street and he continues to feed me the cotton candy. It feels weirdly intimate, but not awkwardly intimate. I open my mouth again, but he holds it a little above my reach. ‘Henry,’ I mumble, ‘not funny.’

He chuckles, lowering his hand, but I could’ve known that he was just messing with me. When I stand on my toes, he holds it further above my head and eventually eats the pink stuff himself.

I want to grab some off the stick, but even that he holds above my head. ‘Henry, come on. Don’t be mean.’

He doesn’t think this is mean, because he continues to do it, laughing the entire time. He does it again and I jump up, hoping I can reach it, but it’s hopeless.

I jump up again, but this time I fold my fingers around his forearm, pulling his strong arm with me so I can finally get a bite.

But holding his thick arm like this, it’s giving me all sorts of thoughts. He feels so strong and it’s quite intimidating of course, but something about his warm skin, is also intensely soft.

‘I knew that was there,’ he says with an almost proud smile.

‘That was there what?’ I ask, letting go of his arm.

‘That bit of assertiveness.’

My cheeks flare up. ‘Hardly.’

‘Hence the bit part.’

I glance at him, but it doesn’t last long. He can’t seem to stop smiling and to be fair, I don’t want him to. He looks breathtakingly handsome and like a perfectly sculpted human. He licks his fingers and I bet he knows exactly what that is doing to me. He throws the stick away and wants to wipe his fingers to his shirt or pants, but I stop him.

‘Wait,’ I say, before digging through my small purse, finding a tissue. ‘Here.’

‘Well prepared,’ he comments, as he takes the tissue out of my hand.

‘Always.’

He cleans his hands and throws the tissue into the bin. ‘Thanks for coming with me today.’

‘Sure,’ I say. ‘What do you want to film first?’

‘No idea yet. I want a bit of everything, you know.’

I nod. ‘Get it. When I started my channel, I was thinking about doing a fashion channel. When I thought about it, I realized I didn’t want that and wanted more lifestyle related videos.’

‘What stopped you from doing fashion videos?’

‘Not being fashionable enough.’

‘Nonsense,’ he tells me in a stern voice. ‘You look fashionable.’

I hold in a giggle that bubbles up. Dominant boyfriend Henry is definitely a concept.

‘What even made you start your channel?’

‘I wanted to romanticize my life,’ I answer. ‘I felt like I was wasting my life and realizing that ever moment is worth noting, it’ll give you tons of footage. Just keep that in mind when you film. Nothing is too boring for a vlog, as long as you edit it nicely.’

Henry nods. ‘That’s beautifully said, Sandy.’


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Sandy uploaded a new video. It’s a summer night time routine and Henry watches every second of it, making mental notes as the video progresses. He is even thinking about picking up a skin care routine himself, simply because she is doing it. The Sandy on his iPad screen takes off her make-up and he admires her. She already looks adorable with make-up on, probably because of her cheeks, but seeing her bare face like this, he can’t help but wonder what life would look like if she was his girlfriend.

These last two days, he realized he not only admired her, her work ethic and the way she shows her life on the vlogs and makes it look like she has her shit together, but that he was falling in love with her. And he is falling head first.

He can’t stop himself anymore. He dreams about a life where Sandy Choi is his girlfriend. She would walk into the kitchen in his shirt, that is way too big for her. She’d be hugging him from behind as he makes her breakfast, pressing kisses on his back. He’d lift her on the counter, so he could press tons of kisses on her cheeks, causing her to giggle. Her slender arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. He thinks about how she would beat his ass with Mario Kart, leaving him a sulking mess. She would kiss him, her soft lips on his, hoping she could brighten him up.

He even envisions her sitting on his lap as she would help him edit a video or sit between his thighs on the couch as he would teach her his favorite games. He’d help her control the console, his thumbs helping hers and kiss her temple every time she does it right.

He has been single for awhile and it was better this way, not dating anyone. Being a bachelor had its perks and he enjoyed it. However meeting Sandy in real life, has him stop him right in his tracks.

He keeps thinking about her smile, about her lovely laugh and the way she blinks her eyes a little quicker when she’s nervous. Everything she does he admires, he likes and he cherishes.

He printed out his favorite picture he made of her yesterday. She’s absolutely stunning and it was not an easy process picking out just one picture he loved. He can’t wait to give her the framed picture. He rewatched some of her videos, hoping he’d get a better idea of what her room looks like. He found a frame in an old box, thinking it would match her aesthetic.

He leans back again the chair, while he holds the picture frame in his hand, staring at Sandy. She’s next to the sunflower and she’s giggling. He can almost hear it again.

She is really photogenic and the fact that she’d let herself being photographed like this, means she’s comfortable with him right?

When she confessed about how she was feeling being around him, he admired her courage to share this with him. It’s personal and he never pecked her for sharing too much personal details of herself this early on in their friendship. She is always pretty neutral in her vlogs, never really personal. He watched some of her Q&A’s and she managed to answer everything, but still leave a lot to the imagination.

The Sandy on his iPad is walking in the most adorable pajamas he has ever seen (a cute pink two piece) to her bed. Her soft voice over says: ‘That is my night time summer routine. I hope you enjoyed this video.’ She gets into the bed and flicks off her light. ‘Remember,’ he hears her say, while the screen stays black, ‘stay hydrated, love yourself and be kind to the people who deserve it and most importantly: yourself.’

Her outro that matches the soft vibe this video has, is a picture of her sitting near her window with a cup of tea in her hand and some links to her social media.

He hears an incoming message and his heart starts to beat a whole lot faster when he sees her name on the screen. Her profile picture is her in a cafe, with a cute beret on her head. She looks cute as a button and the fact that he knows her in real life, is almost like winning the jackpot.

 **Sandy Choi:** I figured out what your first video should be about.

 **Henry:** Enlighten me, please.

 **Sandy Choi:** A channel trailer.

Henry has seen her channel trailer, since she updated hers a few months ago. It was one of the first videos he watched of her. It was beautifully done, but can he do that? Can he pull it off?

 **Sandy Choi:** I can help you out today. If you want of course?

That’s an opportunity that Henry will take with both of his hands. Every moment he can spend with her, is one he’ll take.

 **Henry:** That would be awesome.

He quickly cleans up a bit around the house, rushes upstairs for a quick shower and gets ready in record time. He opts for a dark blue shirt and one of his new jeans shorts. He hasn’t had the chance to wear it yet and he thinks she’d approve of this.

He wonders what she’ll look like today. Yesterday she wore a beautiful white dress, with black sandals underneath them. He can’t believe she thought that she wasn’t fashionable enough for a fashion channel.

Henry hears the doorbell ring, followed by a bark from Kal. He rushes downstairs and he can already see Kal wagging his tail, as if he knows who is coming over. He ushers Kal into the living room and takes a deep breath before he opens up the door.

God, Sandy is adorably beautiful. She wears a jeans short, a white crop top above it and paired it with white platform sneakers. She has put her hairs in two braids, her bangs and some strands of hair framing her face. She has a big bag with her. ‘You walked here?’ he asks her, after he got over his initial shock of how pretty she is.

She nods. ‘Mhm.’

‘You should’ve told me,’ he says, grabbing the heavy looking bag from her. ‘I could’ve picked you up.’

He wonders what her answer will be to that. She keeps on surprising him from time to time. She’s shy, but at the same time she can be real witty. ‘I’m a strong and independent woman, Henry,’ she says, as she walks inside.

He closes the door behind her and he is impressed that she carried this around town for half an hour, without a single drop of sweat. For him, it’s like lifting up a piece of paper, but for someone as petite as her? He shouldn’t have underestimated her like that.

‘Just be careful with that bag,’ she tells him. ‘I brought own camera, laptop, iPad and some other stuff with me. Stuff we’ll need for your channel trailer.’

When Sandy walks into the living room, Kal rushes to her and in excitement, he jumps up. ‘Kal, watch it, that’s not how you greet a lady,’ Henry says, but Kal is having non of it, because he keeps on jumping up, wanting to lick her face. She yelps when he stands on his hind legs, ready to place his front paws on her shoulders. Henry quickly stands between his furry companion and Sandy. ‘Calm down,’ he sternly tells him.

Kal whines, but stays on all of his legs, looking around Henry’s legs to stare at Sandy. ‘Is it safe?’ she softly asks.

‘Yeah, I’m sorry. He’s usually pretty calm, but something about you makes him go mad.’

Sandy smiles and Henry watches as she pets his head. Kal is completely smitten with her, his eyes nearly changing into heart eyes when he looks at her and he leans into her touch. If Henry is being completely honest, he can’t blame him, since he is in the exact same boat as his Akita.

Henry places the bag on the table. ‘You want something to drink?’

She nods. ‘Water.’

‘I have other things,’ he tries, but she shrugs. ‘Sure you don’t want something sweet? Chocolate or—’

‘You have chocolate?’ she asks, standing up straight, looking at him with her eyes enlarged.

Henry knew that that would work. He chuckles. ‘I do.’

She walks up to the table and says: ‘I’d love some chocolate.’

Henry needs to tear his gaze away from her, but if it was up to him, he’d stare at her forever. It’s not just her beauty, it’s her pleasant aura as well. In her videos, she always looks really calm, like she knows what she’s doing. Though Sandy can be pretty quiet around him, he likes having her around. Sometimes he does have a feeling that she’s holding back though. Not only in her videos, but also in real life. He doesn’t think she is fully aware of how funny she is, talented and that not only she’s a great listener, but also a fantastic story teller, in writing and when she’s with him. There’s something deep down there that she has yet to uncover and unleash, to show the world.

‘So, I have been thinking about your channel,’ she says.

Henry walks to the table, places her glass of water and the chocolates on a plate next to her. In complete contrast to yesterday, she seems to be comfortable right away and he thinks that’s a good sign. ‘Tell me.’

‘You know, my channel is based around Life with Sandy Choi. Taking them with me., showing them parts of my life and how certain things work. Maybe yours can be Life with Henry Cavill.’

‘Isn’t that copying you?’

‘It’s not trademarked, Henry,’ she says. ‘But something along the lines of that. Because if you do something like that, means you’re free to upload whatever you want. If you name it, I don’t know… Fitness with Henry or Build a stuff with Henry, you sort of force yourself into one part of yourself.’

She has a point. He leans against the table with his hands. ‘Yeah?’

‘Mhm.’ She grabs her iPad out of her bag and the Apple pen and sits on the chair. It’s adorable to see that her feet are dangling, not even close to touching the floor. She starts to write something, completely lost in her own world, giving Henry time to just simply look at her. He quietly grabs his phone and takes a picture of her, wanting to remember this moment forever.

Sandy finally looks up. ‘What do you think?’ She turns her iPad around and his eyes nearly roll out of their sockets.

‘Did you just make a logo?’ he asks, sitting next to her on a chair.

‘Mhm, just need to finish up the drawing of you and Kal, but other than that, it looks pretty okay, right?’

‘Pretty okay? Sandy, this is fantastic. Honestly, is there something you can’t do?’ He leans in a bit, so he can check out the logo. She made a rough sketch of him and Kal, but even in the sketch, he can tell that it’s them. Above the drawing of them she wrote “life with” and underneath it “Henry (and Kal)”, in such a lovely handwriting.

‘It’s not that great.’

He simply dismisses what she just said there. ‘You are by far the most talented person I have ever met,’ he says, looking up, to see that she’s already watching him. Her face is really close and he watches her tongue wetting her lips. ‘Honestly.’

Her cheeks turn in a soft pink color. ‘Thanks, Henry.’

Henry feels her breath against his lips. He uses all of his willpower not to lean in and kiss her. It would be weird and actually rude to just kiss her, but God, with the way she looks now, he just wished that she was his girlfriend, that he could kiss her whenever he wanted.

‘And I was thinking about your channel trailer,’ she says. ‘We could film some shots today, but you can also start just filming your life. Just like the intros I use before every vlog, you can use some footage you’ll make this week. You don’t have to post that, but it might be useful.’

He heard her, perfectly clear, but he is distracted by his own thoughts. He keeps wondering about how it would feel when she’d place her tiny hand in his. He keeps wondering what it would be like to hug her body close, to have her face buried in his neck, her warm breath against the sensitive skin. ‘That sounds good,’ he eventually manages to say. ‘I really need to find a way to thank you, once the channel is in the air.’

She shrugs. ‘No need to, I like helping you out.’

⟢⟡⟣

Henry doesn’t want this day to end. Though it was really silent every now and then, he noticed that she was getting more and more comfortable with him. She even slapped him across his arm, only to keep on apologizing over and over again, to a point where he simply told her that he barely even felt it.

They had made tons of shots and she really knows what she is doing. Seeing her behind the camera, telling him what he should do, he saw that glimpse of what he knew what was there all along.

Afterwards, she showed him how Final Cut Pro worked, by opening her own laptop and showing him step by step how he could use this program. She even wrote some short cuts down on a piece of paper.

Though he is slightly intimidated by how easily she does it, but she told him that she was worse than he was when she first opened her laptop to edit a video and that he has nothing to worry about.

The two of them only ate some ice cream for dinner, since this hot weather makes it hard for both of them to eat something remotely healthy and the ice cream cools them down. It’s about nine in the evening, but Sandy has yet to leave his place.

If it were up to Henry, she didn’t leave. It’s nice not being alone with a dog, but to have some company, someone to look at during the day, that would be nice. Henry scrolls through the pictures of his phone, while he waits for the freezer to open again, after it vacuumed itself shut. He knows by now that forcing it to open isn’t helping the situation at all, but it gives him plenty of time to look at the pictures he made today of her. He already sent a few to her, but the one he made of her earlier today, with her iPad in hand, is by far his favorite.

That reminds him, he was going to give her the photo he printed out for her. Maybe when she has to leave, he can give it to her.

Finally the freezer opens up again and he gets the ice cubes, to put in her glass of water. Henry walks back to the living room, only to see how Sandy fell asleep against Kal, her head resting on his side.

He smiles as he stares at the sight of the young woman and his dog. Her fingers are wrapped around his paw. Kal lazily opens up his eyes, as Henry pulls out his phone again, to make a picture of the woman he is heavily crushing on and his lovely dog.

He quietly walks upstairs, to make the bed in the guest room. He places an air cooler in the room and fills the tank with some water. He goes downstairs again, only to see her still fast asleep. He really doesn’t want to wake her up, but he also doesn’t want her to sleep on the couch, especially not in that position. It would kill him if she actually strained her back. He carefully slides his hand underneath her knees and her upper body and lifts her up with ease. She places her forehead against his shoulder, her entire body completely relaxed.

Henry can’t stop smiling as he walks up the stairs. He feels her fingers fisting the material of his shirt as she tries to turn on her side in his arms. ‘Easy, easy,’ he softly whispers.

Gently he places her in the bed, taking off her shoes and covering her with a thin blanket. He walks back downstairs, to grab some cooling elements to put in the air cooler. When he is back in the room, he sees she hasn’t moved at all. He tries not to drop the cooling elements in the tank too hard, since he really doesn’t want to wake her up. For a moment he looks at her and tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers grazing over her soft cheek. ‘Good night, Sandy.’

Henry walks out of the room, closes the door behind him, when he feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He looks at the screen and sees Jackson send him a text.

 **Jackson:** I had to hear from my sweet lady Lacey that you have been meeting up with Sandy Choi for three days in a row now?

 **Jackson:** Were you planning on telling me this?

 **Jackson:** Like ever?

 **Jackson:** Because now I heard the details from Lacey, because Sandy is a nice friend and actually tells her stuff about your rendezvous.

 **Henry:** You only told me about Lacey, two minutes before your party started and since you have been hanging out non stop with her, I have to do my morning run by myself.

 **Henry:** I wanted to tell you then, but if you just leave me hanging.

 **Jackson:** Very funny. How was it today?

 **Henry:** It was amazing, she is really talented. She helped me film something and showed me the editing software. I can’t believe that she’s actually part of my life now.

 **Jackson:** That is sickening sweet. You’re still hanging out?

 **Henry:** No, she’s upstairs now.

 **Jackson:** Mister Cavill 😏

 **Henry:** It’s nothing like that. She was tired from filming, being in the sun a lot. She fell asleep.

 **Jackson:** Well, I heard from Lacey that in those seven months that miss Choi is living here, she has yet to spend time with someone else, beside Lacey. Think you’re doing something good, bud.


	6. Chapter 6

It would be weird if I didn’t dream about Henry. During our filming process for his channel trailer, he listened intently to what I had in mind and when I was checking the footage we just shot, he’d stand behind me, looking over me shoulder and his body very close to mine. I nearly lost all my ability to function properly.

In my dreams, he would look over my shoulder as well, but I would be making dinner or placing my tripod somewhere to film. On top of that, he’d wrap his strong arms around my waist, pulling my back against his chest. His warm lips would graze over my temple and cheekbone, pressing soft kisses on my skin.

Yesterday, when he was sitting next to me, admiring what I had made on the tablet, his face was so close to mine and I kept looking at his beautiful light eyes. His lips seemed so soft and part of me wanted to just do it, just to press my lips on his, but I simply couldn’t.

I wake up from hearing the bird chirp outside. I stretch my arms as I open my eyes. Why am I still wearing the clothes I wore yesterday? My eyes grow wider when I realize I’m not in my own bed.

_Where am I?_

It takes me awhile, but then I remember. I was on Henry’s couch, snuggling against Kal’s thick fur. Apparently I feel asleep, which is plausible, since I was dead tired yesterday.

But that was on the couch and I’m in a bed now.

Oh my God, did Henry Cavill carry me to the guest room? Why was I genuinely deep asleep and not faking it, so I could remember a big moment like that? This is so unfair. I deserve to know how he carried me upstairs.

I hear some noises coming from downstairs and I slip on my shoes and walk to the mirror. Somehow my make-up is still pretty decent (the pros of being an avid back sleeper). My braids are pretty messed up, so I pull the elastics out of the ends and brush my fingers through my hair. I notice a slight wave in my dark brown locks, but I don’t have any hair products with me now, so this has to be the look I’m going for then.

I descend from the stairs and walk into the living room. Kal is already waiting for me and I pet him on his head. ‘Good morning to you too.’

Henry walks out of the kitchen, drying his hands on a towel. ‘Good morning, Sandy,’ he says with a beautiful smile, that is honestly too much for me to handle in the morning.

‘Good morning.’

‘Did you sleep well?’

I nod. ‘I did actually. Thanks for letting me stay here.’

‘Of course.’

I clear my throat and say: ‘I should probably go. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.’

Henry shakes his head. ‘Out of all the people in the world, you are the one that could never overstay your welcome. Besides, you need to stay,’ he tells me. ‘I made you breakfast.’

He made me breakfast? God, he went from Henry Cavill, the hottest guy on earth to full on husband material in a heartbeat. This feels like such a domestic move. ‘Oh,’ I say, still pretty dumbfounded, ‘what did you make me?’

‘I attempted making you pancakes and it went pretty well if I say so myself.’

‘I love pancakes,’ I say with a smile. 

‘Figured.’ He gestures to the table and I take a seat on one of the high chairs. He has his back turned to me, not giving me a break in the morning. The running shorts he is wearing, are totally accentuating every good part of his ass. I bite my lip and letting out a long sigh. ‘You want maple syrup on it?’ he asks.

‘Mhm.’ I look at the plate in front of me and then to the other side of the table, where he probably is going to sit.

He fills a coffee mug for the two of us and places it on the table. Henry smiles at me, causing me to copy him. ‘Did you sleep well in the guest bedroom? You’re actually the first that slept there.’

‘It was good, but I can sleep basically anywhere, so…’

He simply nods, before he retreats himself to the kitchen. He comes back with a plate filled with pancakes, more than I could possibly eat and he places it in the middle of the table, together with the maple syrup. He sits across from me and says: ‘After you, Sandy.’

I carefully grab a pancake and as hungry as I am, I feel my stomach tying itself in a sickening knot. I can’t believe this is happening now. I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen in front of Henry, thinking I felt safe and comfortable enough to eat around him. I mean, I could eat chocolates, ice cream and other snacks around him, but a real meal… It’s not working.

Back in college I had a hard time eating in front of people, but after three years of studying there, I finally gained the courage to do it. I can eat with Lacey, no problem at all.

Get over yourself, Sandy, I try to tell myself. I grab the maple syrup and let it drip on the open pancake, before I roll it up. Back home my mom would hate it when she saw the neighbors stack their pancakes. She insisted on rolling them up.

I use my knife and fork to cut a piece of it, but I can’t seem to eat it.

‘What’s wrong, Sandy?’ Henry asks, causing me to look up. ‘You don’t like it?’

‘I haven’t even tried it yet.’ He doesn’t say anything, causing me to grow even more uncomfortable and it’s almost like he is forcing me to answer anyway. ‘It’s stupid, honestly.’

‘Highly doubt it,’ he retorts. ‘Tell me.’

‘Sometimes I can’t eat in front of people,’ I admit. ‘I don’t know why it’s happening now, because I’m comfortable around you…’

‘Really?’ he asks, genuinely surprised. ‘You’re comfortable around me?’

I frown. ‘Wasn’t that obvious?’

He shrugs. ‘It’s nice to have some confirmation,’ he simply states.

Okay? But then I realize, that he hasn’t said anything about my eating habit. ‘You don’t think it’s weird?’

‘That you’re comfortable around me?’

My eyes widen. ‘That I can’t eat in front of others,’ I say.

He shrugs again. ‘Why?’

‘It’s weird.’

‘Hardly,’ he laughs. He continues to make two more pancakes for himself and just like me, he rolls them after he put some maple syrup on it.

I honestly don’t get him. I can’t eat in front of him and he just continues to eat? What in the world?

Henry cuts the pancake into edible pieces, grabs his fork and plate and turns the chair around, so he is facing the window.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask him.

‘You can’t eat when I’m watching, so I’m not watching.’

‘Henry, don’t be ridiculous.’

‘I’m not being ridiculous,’ he laughs. ‘I want you to eat, since you barely ate yesterday. You must be starving.’

He is right about that. Because of the heat, I barely ate at all. As if on cue, my stomach starts to rumble. I take a bite of the pancake, while Henry tells me about his morning run and all the animals he saw. ‘Do you have plans for today, Sandy?’

‘A company sponsored me, so I need to film that video.’

‘Sounds cool. What kind of company?’

‘Something for skincare products, so I’m thinking about making a video where you get ready to go out with friends or a first date, or any thing. Something like that.’

‘Cool,’ he says. ‘I saw your night time routine video, by the way. You have such a soothing voice. I feel like you should record meditations.’

I can’t help but laugh out loud.

‘No, I’m serious. I could listen to you talk for hours on end.’

Thank God, he turned his back to me, because I don’t know if I could handle him watching me turn into a blushing mess. He could listen to me for hours? I barely can’t hear myself talk for about twenty minutes, something isn’t ideal when you make YouTube videos for a living. ‘Thanks, I guess.’

I think I eat about three pancakes. Though my mom’s pancakes will always be number one, his were actually pretty decent, better than mine. I sigh deeply, almost too embarrassed to face him again. ‘You can turn around again,’ I say.

He looks over his shoulder, flashes me a smile, before he turns around again in his chair. ‘Was it edible?’

I nod. ‘Mhm, I ate three.’

‘Good. So, you’re full or…?’

‘I’m full.’

I watch him eat some more pancakes and he leans back in his chair when they’re all finished. He takes a sip of his coffee.

‘Henry,’ I say, gaining his attention. ‘Thank you.’

He cocks an eyebrow. ‘For what?’

I smile carefully. ‘For being you.’

⟢⟡⟣

At around ten a.m., Henry is driving me home. He had some stuff to do anyway and I really need to film that video today. Besides, I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, though he keeps saying that I’ll never overstay.

It’s still weird sitting on the left side of the car and not driving, but I figure Henry must feel the same way when he is in the USA or elsewhere. You’d think that after seven whole months I’d gotten used to driving on the left side of the road, but no. Though I have a drivers license and I can drive here, it still scares the shit out of me.

He parks the car, but turns sideways, so he can look at me. ‘I have something for you,’ he says.

‘Why?’

Henry starts to laugh out of disbelieve, I can tell by his furrowed brows. ‘Why, you ask? Because… I think you should have this.’

‘Oh.’

He reaches his arm to the backseat and holds a plastic bag in his hands. ‘I didn’t wrap it up, since I didn’t have wrapping paper, but this is for you.’ He pulls something from the bag and hands it to me. I turn it around and see it’s a picture of me, nicely put in a frame that I absolutely adore.

I didn’t even know that picture was part of our impromptu photoshoot. He even edited a little bit, from the looks of it, since I didn’t look like this on the pictures that he send me and that flower wasn’t that pretty. I look to the side, only to see that he is already looking at me. ‘It’s beautiful,’ I whisper as if I’m afraid he’ll hear me. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’ Henry smiles and he unbuckles his seatbelt. He tells me to stay put and he walks around the car, to open my car door. I get out and watch him holding my bag in his hand, his muscles flexing in the tight black shirt he is wearing.

I hold out my hand and he hands the bag to me. ‘Thank you for last night. I’m usually not the type of guest to just knock out on someones couch, so it’ll probably not happen again.’

Henry shrugs. ‘You can crash over at my place any time.’

How does one respond to this? God, I really need to learn a thing or two from Lacey, because she always knows exactly what to say. I simply nod. ‘Well, I really have to go, take a shower and start filming.’

‘Good luck.’

‘You too and remember: romanticize your life. You can film a lot more if you think like that.’

Henry smiles. ‘I’ll keep it in mind, Sandy.’


	7. Chapter 7

Four long days have past since Henry took Sandy home. Sure they texted a lot, but she had lots of book stuff to deal with, while he had to read the script for his newest movie and edit that video. That trailer.

He still isn’t completely satisfied with it, but today he is finally going to see Sandy again and hopefully she can help him out.

Henry really missed Sandy and though it was great that they kept one another up to date through texts, he still wants to see her in real life. Nothing can compare to seeing her smile when he is right there with her.

He is still doing his hair, when he hears the doorbell ring and without even thinking, he rushes downstairs to open the door for her. It’s like she got prettier in those four days that he didn’t see her. She wears a jeans skirt with a white blouse with short sleeves and the same platform sneakers she wore a few days ago.

‘Hi,’ she says.

‘I missed you,’ Henry says, instantly regretting the words that just left his lips. Why would he say something like that?

He honestly wouldn’t even blame her if she turned around and ran away.

It’s silent for a few seconds. ‘That’s sweet,’ she comments dryly, before a gorgeous smile is formed on her lips. ‘Good thing I missed you too then.’

Did she honestly just say that? Did she miss him as well? He steps aside to let her in and he hears her squealing when she notices Kal. ‘Here I am again,’ she says, crouching down to pet him.

But Kal is too excited and pushes her on her bum. She erupts in a fit of giggles. ‘Kal, calm down,’ Henry laughs, grabbing him by his collar, pulling the large dog off Sandy. Henry extends his other hand for Sandy to take and she places hers in his. He pulls her up and if he could, he’d never let her go anymore, but sadly, he lets her hand slide out of his.

He does notice something about her. She is relaxed, her shoulders aren’t tense and she looks happy and at ease. He was afraid that she’d be uncomfortable again, since they haven’t seen each other for four days, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case today.

‘So,’ she says, ‘you texted me that your trailer was ready. Can I see it?’

He lets out a laugh. ‘I need you to see it. I’m not totally happy with it.’

The two of them walk to the table and she takes place on a chair. He missed her sitting on this chair, feet dangling like a little kid when she’s sitting. He opens his laptop and searches for the video. He presses the space bar and carefully watches her expression as she stares at the screen, but he can’t seem to figure out what she is thinking. It’s about forty five seconds long, paired with the song she recommended. It ends with the logo she made. She even made a little gif for him to use. She’s a true angel, helping him out like that.

She isn’t saying anything, only looking at the screen. Her blank expression changes when she frowns. ‘It’s good,’ she says, though her face says something else.

‘But?’

‘There are a few parts that I don’t think are good enough. This part for example.’ She scrolls back to the beginning. ‘You don’t need to always hit the beat, but since this is a pretty catchy part of the song, I feel like it should hit the beat. Can I?’

‘Please,’ he says. He can’t tell what she’s doing exactly, but from the looks of it, she’s shortening some clips, while making others longer. She presses the spacebar when she’s done and Henry nods in approval. ‘This is much better.’

Sandy continues to change a few things. She puts a filter on some part, slows something down, while speeding up other parts. She repeats certain shots and changes some fonts. They watch it again and it looks a whole lot better. ‘You are an absolute genius,’ Henry says.

She shrugs. It always hard to give her a compliment, since she barely takes it, but he’ll just overload her with compliments, hoping that one day she smiles at him and simply says: “I know”. ‘I think you should post it now.’

‘What? I thought we said we would post it tomorrow.’

‘Mhm, I know, but I think that you should just do it. You post this video and then I’ll help you with an accompanying Instagram post.’

Henry sighs. ‘What if this isn’t a good idea?’ He looks to the side, only to see Sandy already looking at him, the frown between her brows deeper than before.

‘Henry,’ she says. ‘You were trending on Twitter and basically breaking news all over the world, when you posted that IGTV of you building that pc. You’ll be fine. I think fans would love it if they got to know you a bit more.’ She hovers her hand above his wrist, visibly wondering whether or not she should do it.

Slowly Sandy places her hand on his wrist. He is almost losing his ability to function, with the way her hand is touching his skin. He doesn’t know what happened to her, why she’s so calm and relaxed around him now, but he is totally liking it so far. ‘I’m going to post it,’ he decides.

She helps him out with exporting the video, making sure the thumbnail is right. Honestly, he isn’t sure if he would’ve started this YouTube journey without her. He’d probably flopped if it wasn’t for her to help him.

After she helped him with writing the write things in the description box and making sure the title is right, she says: ‘Whenever you’re ready, Henry.’

It takes him a moment before he can press post and exhales deeply when he sees the loading bar. ‘God, I’m nervous.’

‘You have fans all over the world,’ she says, ‘you’ll do fine. Just the Instagram post and everything is ready for this chapter of your life.’

Henry can’t help but notice how happy she looks. He pulls out his phone out of his back pocket and together with Sandy, they post something on his Instagram stories. ‘This is nerve wrecking,’ Henry admits, as the story is updated.

‘That’s why we should take Kal out for a walk, maybe play some Mario Kart. You know, take your mind off of things.’

He doesn’t want to let his mind wander like that. He doesn’t want to think about her distracting him a certain way. The last few days he thought about it a lot. Of course he dreamed about the romantic stuff in an eventual relationship, but he let his fantasy live a life of its own. He kept dreaming about the desperate kisses they would share, how his hands would slip underneath her shirts and how she’d kiss his neck, since she has excellent access to it, when she’s standing in front of him, let alone sitting on his lap for example. He wondered what she’d look like without her clothes, he wondered what she would sound like when soft whimpers would leave her lips.

Henry clears his throat, a lot louder than he intended. ‘I’ll just finish up my hair and then we’ll go,’ he says. Before she can protest or question it, he rushes out of the living room and climbs up the stairs, rushing to the bathroom. He leans with both of his hands against the hard surface of the door, closing his eyes.

God, he is completely intoxicated by her. She makes him totally lose his mind. He has to clear his head and only allows himself to think about his channel trailer going live. He stands up straight, ruffles his hair and checks himself out in the mirror whether he likes it or not.

Henry goes downstairs again, only to see Kal licking Sandy’s hand. ‘I’m good to go,’ he says, but she doesn’t move. ‘What? Is something wrong?’

She turns the laptop around and he leans towards the screen, only to see that he already has two thousand subscribers and the number keeps on rising. ‘Promise me you won’t outshine me,’ she jokingly says. ‘I worked really long and hard on my channel.’

⟢⟡⟣

They spend the entire day together. They walked Kal and during their walk, Henry couldn’t stop teasing Sandy. He promised her that she could throw the ball, but when she wanted to grab the ball, he would hold it above both her and Kal’s head.

Seeing her to sulk, made him feel bad for her, only to discover that she was faking it and snatch the ball out of his hand, running away, with Kal following suit.

Henry doesn’t know what was going on inside of Sandy’s mind, but he liked it. He saw her having fun, not holding herself back anymore.

When they finally arrived at his home, he got into a state where he’d constantly checked out his Instagram and YouTube, only to discover that within a few hours, he already had 10k subscribers. Since it’s also trending on Twitter, he can only dream about what will happen later on today.

At around four ‘o clock, Sandy stands up from the couch and stretches her arms above her head, revealing bits of her bare stomach.

Don’t let your mind wander, Henry, he tells himself.

‘I have to go home,’ she announces. ‘Lacey is coming by later. She is going to tell me all about your friend Jackson and the things they did in bed.’

Henry raises his eyebrows. ‘She tells you that?’

‘She tells me everything,’ Sandy laughs, collecting her stuff. ‘But now with Jackson, it’s even worse. She gets really into detail now.’

‘Do I want to know?’

Sandy shakes her head. ‘No, I’ll spare you the details. You’ll thank me later.’

He chuckles. ‘Let me take you home,’ Henry says, standing up, towering over her. Today felt good, it felt as if they are used to each others presence. Of course this isn’t helping with his thoughts about her.

He keeps thinking about kissing her, about holding her hand and not driving her home, but taking her with him to bed. God, he wants to feel her skin against his.

The two of them walk to his car and she gets in when he opens the door for her. While he is driving, she checks his subscriber account. ‘This is so unfair,’ she mutters, pouting in the process. ‘You already have 13k subscribers. That took me awhile before I had that.’

‘It’s partially your fault that this happened, come to think of it,’ he tells her. ‘Had you not made the trailer better, I think no one would’ve subscribed.’

‘I’m too good for this world,’ she laughs, nudging him with her elbow. ‘Are you going to say it, though? That I helped you out?’

‘I want to give you full credit for this. The only reason I even went through with this idea, was because I got your number.’ That was more honesty than he initially intended on.

She doesn’t react right away. ‘You don’t have to give me credit,’ she says. ‘It’s not that I’m embarrassed to be associated with you, but I don’t want people to know.’

‘What? Why?’

‘It’s just that I’m scared of their reactions. You are a super awesome actor and I feel like it would be weird if all of the sudden it came out that I helped you out.’

‘We don’t have to do it right away, maybe one day, when the channel has been up in the air for a while and I actually post videos.’

He stops in front of her apartment and she turns sideways. ‘I’m really happy that you posted that video today,’ she tells him, while she unbuckles her seatbelt and places her temple against the headstand of the passengers seat.

Henry thinks Sandy always looks beautiful, but with this golden glow the five ‘o clock sun is giving her, he notices the lighter pecks in her brown eyes, her pink lips formed into a smile.

‘Now I just have to edit that first vlog. I’m terrified.’

‘No need to be terrified. I have to edit a video too, but I can help you out tomorrow. If you want of course.’

‘I’d love that,’ he admits, unable to tear his gaze off of her.

She frowns. ‘What’s on your mind, Henry?’ she asks, her voice sounding like sweet honey.

He bites his lip, carefully extending his hand to her, his thumb and index finger touching her soft chin.

He saw her staring today at him, he felt her hands on his arms when she pulled him with her to show him what Kal was doing. She threatened to push him into the lake, though when she pushed him once, she fell backwards herself, right on her bum into the grass. He’d laughed, holding out his hand so he could pull her up. She didn’t let go of his hand right away.

Sandy Choi did all those things today.

She isn’t pulling her face back. Sandy’s lips are parted and she lets out a long and shaky breath. He pulls her to him, while he leans in. He feels her hot breath against his lips…

Until he doesn’t anymore. Sandy has jerked back her head. ‘I have to go,’ she says in a hoarse tone. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ She pushes open the door and doesn’t look behind her when she storms to her apartment.

‘Fuck,’ Henry mutters, while he squeezes into the steering wheel, his knuckles growing white. ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’ He slams the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. He totally fucked this up.

He honestly thought that she liked him just as much as he liked her. Did he completely misread it? That can’t be right? God, he feels like such a stupid asshole. He shouldn’t have kissed her, at least he could’ve asked her.

What is he going to do tomorrow, because she just said that she’ll see him tomorrow. Fuck, how is this going to work out? He nearly pulls his hair out, as he leans back, sighing deeply. He quickly grabs his phone.

He looks up her name and he wants to text her, he needs to text her, but his eyes fall on the last few texts they exchanged. It was last night, before they went to sleep.

 **Sandy** 🐻 **:** Though you always keep me entertained with your nerdy comments, I have to sleep, Henry. I can barely keep my eyes open.

 **Henry:** I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow right? I’m done with the edits.

 **Sandy** 🐻 **:** Yes, I can’t wait till tomorrow and I really want to see how you did. I bet you did great. Sleep tight, Cavill xx.

 **Henry:** Sleep tight, Sandy.

She wrote not one x, but two, that must mean something right? Shit, why doesn’t he understand? He texts her, desperately needing to tell her something right now, before it’s too late.

 **Henry:** I am truly sorry, Sandy. I shouldn’t have done that.


	8. Chapter 8

**Henry** 🌻 **:** I am truly sorry, Sandy. I shouldn’t have done that.

I haven’t stopped staring at the message since I got it. Lacey is going to be here in like ten minutes and now all of the sudden I wished she wouldn’t come at all. It has been three hours since Henry fucking Cavill attempted to kiss me.

Emphasis on _attempted_ , because I’m the biggest idiot in the world. Shit, I wanted to kiss him too, like badly so. I dreamed about it since before we even had each others number, but what do I do when it’s about to happen?

I pull back. I. Pull. Back.

Ever since I got to my apartment and got this text, I have been on a rollercoaster of emotions. I cried a little out of pure frustration, I got really anxious, because we are supposed to hang out tomorrow and then I cried some more, because what am I going to say to him tomorrow?

When I go to the bathroom, I see that my face and eyes are red, swollen and puffy. God, I look disgusting, with snot dripping out of my nose. I let cold water run out of the tap and splash my face a few times, hoping to lose that hot and nearly painful feeling on my face.

God, the poor guy, he must feel like shit.

I still see his face. He looked like I slapped him and I figure that would’ve hurt less than the stunt I pulled. I’m so stupid. After everything we did today, this is how I end it? We had so much fun, I was comfortable around him and then I do this. I pull back from him,

I dig my nails in the hard surface, before I walk out of the bathroom, not being able to look at myself anymore.

I jump when the door opens. My father insisted on someone else having a key to my apartment, in case something happened to me. I truly trust Lacey and since she is the only one that I have known since I moved here, it was only logical that she has an extra key. ‘Here I am,’ she says in a giddy tone, ready to spill the details about Jackson and what not about him, but when her eyes land on me, her expression falls. ‘Oh no, sweetheart, what happened?’

I bury my face in my hands and let out a sob. She closes the door behind her and when she’s near me, she wraps her arms tightly around me.

‘I’m here,’ Lacey whispers, her hand drawing soothing circles on my back.

I take a deep breath when I’m tired of crying and she holds my shoulders, so she can look at me. ‘Goodness, what happened? Did Henry do something to you?’

‘He tried to kiss me.’

Her eyes light up, the corners of her mouth already curling up, ready to pop the champagne, but then she realized that for starters, I’m crying and I said _tried_ kissing. ‘What happened after he tried to kiss you?’

‘I panicked and pulled back, before I escaped the car and nearly ran back to the apartment.’

Lacey sighs. ‘Does this have something to do with Danny?’

I cringe visibly hearing his name. God, stupid ex-boyfriend ruining everything. ‘Mhm.’

She nods. ‘Have you called Henry yet?’

I shake my head. ‘No, I haven’t. He did text me though.’ I grab my phone and show her the text.

‘You have to answer.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’ I walk passed her to the kitchen, to get some water and take a few sips. ‘Shit, Lacey, I really like him and I can’t believe I did this.’

‘You like him?’ she repeats, joining me in the kitchen. ‘That’s a good sign. Does he know?’

‘Of course not and after what I just did, he probably thinks I don’t like him.’

‘That’s why you should tell him and preferably right now.’

‘I need to think about it,’ I tell her.

She nods, knowing that she can’t force me and sees the picture frame Henry gave me. She picks it up and smiles. ‘He really is smitten with you,’ she says. ‘According to Jackson, those four days killed him not seeing you.’

‘He told me he missed me when I was at the door.’

Lacey chuckles. ‘That’s good. I haven’t spoken to him since the party, but Henry is really crazy about you, from what Jackson tells me and since he wanted to kiss you, I would honestly say that he is ready to commit. Are you?’

‘I want to be, but it’s all happening so quickly.’

‘Then tell him that, I bet he is willing to take his time with you. Oh shit.’ The back of the picture frame comes off. I can see that she wants to place it back, but then her eyes fall on something. ‘Did you know he wrote something on the back of this picture?’

He did? I shake my head. She turns it so I can read it myself.

_I don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but remember: you are my favorite model._

What am I even doing here? Why am I not at his place, telling him what the reason was I pulled back, though I’d rather not think about that.

‘I have to go,’ I say as I put on my shoes.

‘You honestly think I’m going to let you go by yourself?’ Lacey says, slipping on her shoes as well. ‘I’m going with you. I want to see this.’

‘You’re with the car?’

Lacey shakes her head. ‘No, I came with the bus, why?’

I grab my keys and my phone, to put it in my purse. ‘I hope you want to run.’

We rush out of the apartment, closing the door behind us. I don’t know when I ran for the last time, but it must’ve been quite awhile now, because I feel a sharp pain in my side. God, how do people do this on a daily basis and why would they do this for fun? Henry always lightens up when he talks about his morning runs. God, I can’t even do this, let alone run in the morning when the entire world is still asleep.

From the looks of it, Lacey is also not an avid runner, something that honestly makes me feel a bit better about myself.

After twenty five minutes (we only won like five minutes, so I don’t know if it was even worth it) we’re at his place and I ring the doorbell. I don’t hear Kal bark and I don’t hear Henry storming down the stairs, like he usually does.

 _Did we just run here for nothing?_ ‘No, no, no.’

‘Maybe he is out with Kal,’ Lacey suggests, while she takes deep breaths.

‘Or he moved to Timbuktu, too embarrassed after what I done to him.’

She can’t help but chuckle. ‘You can be such a drama queen sometimes. I highly doubt he moved to Timbuktu. Let’s just wait here and eventually he’ll come back.’

I sigh deeply, remembering Henry’s pained expression again. I don’t know how long we wait, but I hear a familiar bark. Kal rushes towards me.

‘Goodness gracious,’ Lacey mumbles, ‘this dog looks smaller on his Instagram. This looks like a calf.’

‘Hi sweetheart,’ I say to him, when he is standing in front of me and I pet his head.

‘Sandy?’ I hear Henry ask and when I look up, I see he is with someone else. Oh, I think this is Jackson and when I see Lacey walking over to him, to wrap her arms around his waist, I know it’s definitely Jackson. ‘What are you doing here?’

I clear my throat, feeling tears burning in my eyes. I look at my shoes, afraid of looking at him with my glassy eyes. ‘I’m here to apologize,’ I whisper, but loud enough for at least Henry to hear. ‘I’m so sorry, Henry.’

I wipe away a tear that has escaped and when I look up again, I see that Henry is shaking his head. ‘If someone should apologize, it should be me. I shouldn’t have done that. It was rude and inconsiderate and I should’ve asked you whether or not you wanted to kiss me.’

I look over at Lacey, who gestures I should say something. ‘I wanted to kiss you, Henry,’ I eventually say. ‘It’s just that something is still holding me back.’

He takes two steps, so he is a little closer to me. ‘You want to tell me about it?’

I nod. ‘Mhm.’

Since no one is moving, I figure that I’d just spit it out. I mean, Lacey knows it and from the looks of it, Henry has spilled what happened between us to Jackson, so he can know this too. ‘When I was nineteen, I had a boyfriend,’ I say, quickly blinking my eyes and petting Kal, who is sitting next to me, his head against the side of my leg. ‘At first we were really happy, but after six months, he started to change. He became angry a lot and very mean. Even his friends were the same. Calling me names, pushing me through the hallways a little too hard and during parties, they’d force me to drink more than I could. When I finally gained the courage to break up with him, he got mad and told me that no one would ever love me like he did. That I should be grateful that he at least gave me a chance, because I was a shitty kisser and even worse in,’—come on, Sandy, you can say sex. You’re surround by adults here—‘ _certain other bedroom activities_. No one could love me like he did.’

Henry clenches his jaw. ‘What a fucking idiot,’ he mutters, looking at Kal instead of me.

‘The reason I pulled back, Henry, was not because I didn’t want to kiss you. It was because I was scared and surprised. Out of all the people in the world, _you_ wanted to kiss me. I was afraid to not do it well enough, thinking I’d disappoint.’

He doesn’t say anything. I look at Lacey, who nods in approval. ‘Well, he is an idiot and you definitely didn’t deserve that,’ Henry says. ‘You would never disappoint me, Sandy. The reason why I wanted to kiss you, is because I’m falling in love with you.’

Henry Cavill is falling in love with me? _Me?_ ‘What?’ I ask confused.

‘I thought I simply admired you, but when we started texting and meeting up, I couldn’t take my mind off of you. Those four days that I didn’t see you, were terrible. With everything that happened today, that we did together, I figured you like me back.’

‘I do like you back,’ I quickly say. ‘Normally this much human interaction wears me out, but when I’m with you… I can spend forever with you.’

Henry smiles, this time a genuine smile.

‘Still, I’m sorry that I pulled back and practically ran away. You honestly didn’t deserve that and it was childish of me to simply ran, instead of talking about it as an adult.’

‘Sandy,’ he says, ‘it’s okay. I should’ve asked if you wanted to kiss me, not take you by surprise like that.’

I take a deep breath. ‘I’m falling in love with you too,’ I whisper. ‘It’s just that I’m scared. This is all so new and so much… I have to get used to all of this.’

Henry nods. ‘Your pace,’ he tells me. ‘I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want. There is just one thing I want to know.’

‘Sure.’

‘Why didn’t you answer to my text?’

I let out a nervous laugh. ‘Well, in between the crying and slight panicking, I couldn’t think of the right response. Lacey looked at the picture that you gave me and when the back sort of fell off, we saw what you wrote me.’

Even when it’s already turning a bit darker outside, I can still see him blushing. ‘Right.’

‘Then I realized that I shouldn’t be at home, but I should be talking to you, so I ran.’

‘You ran?’ he repeats, raising his eyebrows. ‘You _ran_ to my place?’

‘I can run, Henry, believe it or not.’

He begins to laugh and it warms my heart that he can still laugh. I was scared that I had really hurt his feelings. ‘Very romantic of you, Sandy.’

‘This is honestly the sweetest thing I have witnessed so far,’ Lacey tells us, making me realize that there were more people around here than just the two of us. ‘I feel like you two will totally figure it all out, so I’m going to take this guy with me and then we’ll see you guys later.’

I hold up my hand, while Lacey winks at me, before she and Jackson walk off. ‘Are we good again?’ I ask, just in case.

‘More than good. You want to come in? Play some Mario Kart?’

I smile. ‘That would be nice.’

He walks past me, opens the door and holds Kal’s collar. ‘After you,’ he says with a beautiful smile, that makes me fall even more for him.

When we’re inside, we take place on the couch and he hands me my Mario Kart wheel. Yes, I have a Mario Kart wheel of my own, partially decorated with pink washi tape, from when Henry and I were really bored, but could barely move at all because of the heat.

‘What happened after I went inside?’ I ask him. ‘If you want to talk about it, of course.’

Henry lowers the volume of the television, while he starts up. ‘When you went inside, I went home and called Jackson. I felt so stupid and I thought I completely ruined it with you. Jackson and I spoke about everything, from basically the moment we met till that moment and Jackson came to the brilliant conclusion that something was holding me back. I on the other hand was certain that you and I were over, before it could even start.’ He sighs deeply and adds: ‘Guess Jackson knows you better than I know you.’

I sigh, looking to the side to take in his exceptional beauty. It’s weird that someone can look this beautiful and it’s even weirder that someone like that is falling in love with me.

His shirt isn’t as tight fitting as usual, but it still shows off his thick and muscular eyes. I place my head against his upper arm, closing my eyes for a second. He freezes for a moment, but relaxes shortly after.

‘I’m sorry, Henry.’

‘Sandy, please, stop apologizing. You did nothing wrong.’

I sit up straight again, looking into his ocean colored eyes. ‘Sure?’

‘Sure,’ he confirms with a smile.

We pick out our characters (the trusted Donkey Kong for him and Baby Daisy for me) and we choose the Lightening Cup.

During the first course, Mario Circuit 3, I can tell that Henry has been practicing in those four days that we didn’t see each other, since he ends up second, without it being too hard. To be fair, this course isn’t the hardest, but still I say to him: ‘Impressive.’

During the second course Peach Garden, he is losing some of his power, because he ends up fifth, after he went with his motor cycle through the flowers, slowing him down and collapsed against multiple Chain Chomps. ‘It’s really unfair how you good you are,’ he says, nudging my side. ‘But if Jackson is ever around, we’re definitely playing this, because I want to see his face when you beat his ass.’

I chuckle. ‘You want a tip?’ I ask him. ‘For a faster start?’

‘Please.’

‘Just press in the two button when I say so, okay?’

DK Mountain is not my favorite course, but other than that, it’s a pretty easy one—at least, I think it’s an easy one. We watch the countdown and when the two has just passed, I say: ‘Now.’

He pushes in the button and has a great fast start, shooting his character from fifth to third place. ‘Shit, it worked.’

‘Of course it worked.’

‘You know,’ he says, while turning the wheel as he continues to drive, ‘one day I’ll beat you.’

I let out a laugh and say with a sarcastic undertone: ‘Sure.’ I end up in first place again (surprise surprise), while I see Henry struggle to get from third to second place. ‘Come on, you can do it.’

He rushes past Yoshi right before the finish line and ends up second. ‘I like playing Mario Kart with you,’ he admits, as the ranking is shown, before he clicks on the box that says ‘next race’.

‘I like it too,’ I admit. ‘Everything is nicer when it’s with you, honestly.’

He raises an eyebrow, after he manages to tear his gaze away from the screen, where we see a preview of the final race of this cup, Bowser’s Castle, with the moving Thwomps. ‘You have been awfully romantic,’ Henry chuckles. ‘First you run to my place, now you say this. What’s next?’

‘Shut up.’

Henry loves the trick I thought him for a faster start and now he has that much of a great start, he rushes past me once the countdown is up. When I get a shell, I throw it at him, watching his character stumble and Baby Daisy on her motorcycle pushing him out of the way. ‘You’re mean.’

‘I just want to win,’ I tell him with a smile.

He continues to throw shells to me, but I’m well prepared and continue to throw bananas or other shells back, so it doesn’t hit me. But he is getting better and better and instead of an at least twenty second space between me and number two, he is only three seconds behind me.

‘I’m going to beat you one day,’ he tells me. ‘Watch me.’

He is looking for a new cup to play, while I place my head against his shoulder again. ‘Try Star Cup,’ I say.

Henry places his hand on my knee for a moment. ‘I like this,’ he admits in a whisper.

‘Me too.’

During the Daisy circuit and the Koopa Cape, Henry is thriving. He came in second both times, very close behind me, but during the third course, Maple Treeway, he is totally struggling. He continues to fall off the trees and is growing more and more frustrated. I have a pretty good advantage compared to him and since I know that I’ll win anyways (unless he is going to throw my character from first to twelfth, but that’s highly unlikely) I press the plus button, so the game pauses. ‘Take my wheel,’ I say. ‘Come on.’

He furrows his thick brows. ‘You don’t have to do that.’

‘I do,’ I say with a smile. ‘Come on, Henry. Give me your wheel.’

I can’t perform miracles, but I somehow get him from a twelfth place to fifth and he managed to not be totally useless, because Baby Daisy earns herself a nice second place.

‘You are amazing,’ he says in awe, causing me to blush.

During the final race, he ends up second again and he somehow managed to get himself a second place over all. ‘I feel like I’m getting better and better and one day I’ll become first,’ he tells me again. It’s endearing how much confidence he has, or he fakes to have.

‘You sure?’ I ask, cocking an eyebrow. ‘Because judging from the races today, it’s pretty evident that you practiced those four days, while I haven’t played the game since we last saw each other and before that, the last time I played it, was in college and somehow I still beat you. Every single time.’

‘Don’t rub it in,’ he laughs.

We place the wheels on the coffee table and I rub my eyes. ‘I think I should go home. I left on all the lights back in my apartment and I think my curtains are open as well.’

‘Let me take you home.’

He doesn’t suggest that we take the car, meaning he wants to spend more time with me, right? We stroll down the road and I want to do it, want to hold his hand, but I’m too scared of doing so.

‘Are we going to edit together tomorrow?’ Henry asks.

‘Yes, but I have made reservations for a practice room at the dance studio, but afterwards we can.’

‘How about I pick you up? When do you think you’re ready?’

My heart starts to beat a whole lot faster. Him picking me up from somewhere, that’s a pretty big boyfriend move, isn’t it? ‘Twelve.’

‘Then I’ll be there at twelve.’

I smile and we stop in front of my apartment building. ‘Than you for walking me home,’ I say to him, ‘and thank you for being so understanding. I feel like lots of people wouldn’t be as nice as you about it.’

‘Well, those people don’t deserve to be around you then,’ he simply states. ‘You are worth the wait, Sandy.’

Okay bye, I’m changing into a puddle. That was too romantic. ‘I just don’t want you to feel obligated to wait.’

‘It’s voluntary,’ he says, ‘promise.’

I look over my shoulder to my apartment door and part of me just want to wave goodbye and go, but I don’t want to that, not after he was so understanding. Not after everything that happened between us. I clear my throat, take a deep breath, before I step forward, so there is very little space between us.

_Just do it, Sandy, God, it’s not that hard._

I snake my arms around his waist, placing my the side of my head against his broad chest and hearing his heartbeat go a bit faster, causes me to smile.

Henry wraps his strong and safe arms around me. I close my eyes, as I bury my face in his chest, taking in his familiar scent. God, this feels safe. It feels exactly how I thought it would be and even better.

I slowly pull back and he holds my hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he says.

‘Yeah, see you tomorrow.’

‘Sweet dreams, Sandy.’

‘You too.’

We let go of each others hands and I walk to the door of the apartment building. I look over my shoulder, to wave at him and he holds up his hand. I rush upstairs, but I get a text message from him when I just entered my apartment.

 **Henry** 🌻 **:** Look outside. I have a surprise for you.

I walk towards the window and when I look outside, he is still standing there. He blows me a kiss, causing me to laugh, before I pretend to catch it and place it on my heart. Even from here I can see he is smiling. He waves at me, before he walks off.

I bite my lip and I sit on my bed. Is this truly happening? I’m not dreaming or anything?

And then it hits me: Henry Cavill is in love with me.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Henry is still living on cloud nine. What he thought would be one of the worst days of his life, became one of the best within hours. He thought he messed up big time, that she’d walk out of his life because of this.

But seeing her and Lacey at his front door, he figured that the two of them would put some salt into the wound, but she didn’t. Of course she didn’t. He couldn’t believe that he even thought she’d do something like that.

Everything seemed perfect after that. Her head on his shoulder, the hug she gave him in front of her apartment. It’ll all work out, only at her pace. Though her pace might not be his, he’ll accept it.

He never experienced something like this. He had fallen in love before, sure, but never like this and certainly never with someone like Sandy. The way she captivates him, the way her smile totally makes his day and how she stole his heart.

God, he’s glad Sandy is still in his life. He doesn’t know what he would’ve done if she walked out and never came back. He honestly thinks that she’s the love of his life, the one that he is going to end up with, the woman he’ll spend the rest of his life with, even long after he is retired from his acting career.

He is supposed to pick her up at twelve, but since he always fashionably early, he is already at the studio at eleven forty. He walks in, asks the guy behind the counter where he can find Sandy and the man tells him she’s in room five. He hears music blasting through the closed door and he knows that knocking wouldn’t help.

Henry carefully cracks open the door and he sees Sandy moving gracefully on the music, while she’s powerful in her locks. The way she controls her body, is absolutely breathtaking. She is light on her feet, moving across the floor with ease. Her body rolls cause his eyes to widen, because it’s a move that doesn’t match with her personality and her outfit for that matter. She is wearing a pink Adidas short with a short white tank top, that exposes the abs on her stomach every time she raises her arms above her head.

When Sandy turns to the side, her eyes meet his and she lets out a high pitched scream. She walks to her phone and the room is instantly quiet as she shuts up the music. ‘Henry Cavill, what the hell? It’s not even twelve yet.’

‘I’m sorry, I was early and thought I’d tell you that I was here.’

Her cheeks flare up, a habit that he finds absolutely endearing. ‘How much did you see?’ she asks fidgeting her hands.

‘Enough to know that you are really talented.’ He closes the door behind him and walks up to her. ‘Why aren’t you doing something with it? You are an excellent dancer, Sandy.’

She shakes her head. ‘Not really.’

‘You’re afraid of dancing in front of people?’

‘How did you guess?’ she asks, almost laughing. ‘It’s just that I freeze when other people are watching me. The only one who can watch me, is the guy behind the counter. He has filmed me about three times, so I can post it online.’

‘Your fans think you are talented too.’

‘They think a lot of what I do is “insanely talented”.’

He sighs deeply. ‘You are being extremely hard on yourself.’

She shrugs. ‘I’m not going to do something with it anyways and I’ll probably delete those videos sooner or later.’

Henry places his hands on her shoulders, hoping she won’t mind. ‘Sandy,’ he starts, causing her to look up. ‘Can you dance for me?’

Her eyes widen. ‘Didn’t you hear what I just said?’ she asks. ‘I freeze when people are watching me. That includes you. Especially you for that matter.’

‘Come on,’ he tries to coax her into saying yes. ‘I saw something already and it looked really good. Please?’

She inhales deeply. ‘Why?’ That’s better than just plain no.

‘I feel like I can get to know you better when I see you dance.’

Sandy thinks for a moment. ‘I hate you, Cavill,’ she says, before she tells him to sit in front of the mirror. She crouches down next to him, with her phone in her hand. ‘Choose a song.’

That takes him by surprise. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah, let’s make this experience absolutely terrifying.’

He places his hand on her slender upper arm. ‘You’ll do fantastic, I already know.’ He scrolls through her music, as his thumb is caressing her skin.

She places her forehead against his temple for a second. ‘I hope so,’ she says, her warm breath against his skin.

‘This is a good song,’ he says. ‘Notice by J Word and Jimmy Brown. I listen to it during my cooling down.’

‘You have taste, Cavill and leave it to you to pick the sexiest song on that list.’ After she rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, she presses play and walks to the middle of the room.

The instrumentals of the song are quite sensual and before she starts to dance, she looks at him, a little nervous as he can tell by her fast blinking. Despite that, he is mesmerized by her beautiful and unique dark eyes, the outline of her body and how her long locks are messier than usual.

The second the first line is being sung, he sees an instant change from the sweet Sandy he comes to know, to dancer Sandy.

She knows exactly how to move her body during the start of the song, which happens to be the chorus. In her other dance covers, she shows powerful moves, hitting every beat, but this song brings out another side of her dancing. She is insanely fluid and that makes her dancing interesting to watch. _It’s such a shame that she isn’t doing more with this._

He watches her hands roam her own body. She’s making his mind go crazy, Henry thinks to himself. Her facial expressions are honestly on another level. She doesn’t even look like the Sandy that he knows, the one that sometimes is struggling to find the right words, who smiles shyly at him when they are playing Mario Kart and who hugged him so tightly yesterday. She completely dismissed that initial insecurity, exchanging it for something he has never seen before.

The amount of sex appeal she holds, it makes him clear his throat. In her dance covers it’s apparent that she knows exactly what she’s doing, but her presence in real life is completely different and _intense_. Her eyes are slightly hooded, something that matches the vibe of the music and did she honestly just bite her bottom lip? He needs to keep himself in check.

She turns around, her back to him and looks over her shoulder.

And then she snaps back like an elastic, back to her old self, the side of hers that he knows and adores. Her fingers run through her locks, as she doesn’t even look at him. She motions to him that he should stop the music.

‘Sandy, you are amazing,’ he says, still in awe of what he just saw.

‘Thanks.’ She looks up, her cheeks red and he notices a small layer of sweat on her forehead, her neck and the part of her chest he can see. It was already pretty hot in here before she did that, but now, it feels like his insides are on fire. ‘Glad you liked it.’

He pushes himself up so he can walk towards her. ‘I didn’t just like it, Sandy, I absolutely loved it,’ he states. ‘Is there something you can’t do?’

‘I can’t build a computer, while looking like you do.’

He chuckles, happy that she’s able to joke. ‘I can teach you. I feel like you’ll pick this up easily. Hardly ever met someone this talented.’

‘Stop it,’ she says, smiling at him. ‘My heart is beating so fast, it was the most terrifying thing to ever do.’

‘Why? You danced in front of the guy behind the counter, right?’

‘But he is a dancer himself and one of the first people here in London that I met. He owns this place and is happy to lend me a room, as long as I tell my viewers how amazing he is.’ She sighs deeply. ‘But with you, it’s different.’

He carefully holds her hand and thank God, she doesn’t pull back. ‘Why?’ His thumb caresses her fingers.

‘Because you are you, Henry. You are talented, you are humble, you are kind and patient and all that in such a pretty package. That’s intimidating.’

Henry smiles. ‘So, you finally understand how I feel when I’m with you,’ he says.

She nearly sends him a look that could kill. ‘Shut up, Henry.’

‘It’s true,’ he retorts. ‘God, it’s such a shame that you don’t see what I see, what other people see.’ He hesitates for a second, not wanting to scare her off, but he places his hand on the side of her face. Her face is compared to his hand so tiny, just like she’s petite in general.

Her pink lips part, before she leans against his palm. It’s such a vulnerable thing to do, just like it’s a brave thing for her to open up, to dance for him. She showed him a part of her that she obviously doesn’t share with anybody.

‘You’re amazing, Sandy,’ he whispers. ‘I wished you could see what I see. You are smart, you are kind, you are freakishly talented and all that in such a gorgeous package.’

‘Shut up,’ she says again, but this time a lot softer than previously. Her eyes meet his, before she says: ‘I brought some clothes with me, because I was hoping that I could shower at your place.’

Henry nearly feels disappointed, but he remembers his own words well: her pace, not his. This was a huge step for her, her leaning against his hand. She didn’t pull back and he doesn’t want her to.

Jokingly he pinches her adorable cheek and says: ‘You, Sandy Choi, can always shower at my place.’

⟢⟡⟣

Ever since Henry posted his channel trailer the day before, his YouTube channel has reached 23k subscribers, so he definitely feels like he should make his first video unforgettable. He has great footage, but while he is editing, he keeps looking at Sandy’s screen. She’s sitting next to him, AirPods plugged into her ears and from the looks of it, she works a billion times faster.

She must feel that he was staring at her screen, because she glances sideways, taking out her AirPods. ‘What?’ she asks, a lovely smile creeping up her face.

How did he got so lucky? Honestly, he can’t stop thinking about her dancing and he definitely wants to see her dance for him a lot more. This dance was different than the dances on her channel. It was sensual and insanely sexy, a side of her that he didn’t know was there. He can’t help but let his thoughts travel to a time where she might be doing this too, only in less clothes, slowly shedding more pieces and God knows what else she’d do.

_But he really shouldn’t think about that now._

‘Nothing,’ he says. ‘You’re just intimidating with your fast editing.’

‘That comes with time, Henry,’ she tells him.

After her shower here, she came back down, smelling like his soap, in a short yellow plaided skirt, with a matching top. He has barely seen her rewear the same outfit, expect that he sometimes recognizes her outfits or pieces from it from her vlogs.

He sighs. ‘I know you’re right…’

She closes off her laptop, places her AirPods neatly in the case and scoots her chair closer to him. She places her feet on a bar at the bottom of his chair and leans forward. ‘What’s on your mind?’

‘Just hesitant,’ he confesses, ‘about this channel.’

She nods. ‘I understand.’ For a second Sandy hesitates, before she wraps her fingers around his bicep, holding tightly onto him. ‘But remember: you got such great comments on both your Instagram and your trailer.’

Henry knows and it definitely did help with not finding this absolutely terrifying.

‘You’ll be fine and do great. I guarantee,’ she whispers.

He places his hand on hers. Time stands still for a moment and he is completely taking in this special moment the two of them share now with each other.

But the doorbell and Kal’s bark as a response to the ring, interrupts their little moment. ‘Easy boy,’ Henry says as he stands up and walks to the door. He swears to God, if it’s someone who wants to bribe him into buying something he doesn’t need, he’ll kill them. But when he opens the door, he sees not only Jackson, but also Lacey on the doorstep.

‘Mister YouTube,’ Jackson yells, before giving Henry a tight hug. ‘How are you? Is the Mrs. around?’

‘Fuck off, man,’ Henry laughs. He pulls Lacey into a hug. ‘How are you holding out with him?’ he asks her.

‘It’s hard sometimes and if you weren’t hanging out with my friend, getting this close to her, I’d totally exchange him for a better model, a.k.a. you.’

Henry can’t help but laugh and the three of them walk in the living room. Normally Kal loves it when Jackson comes by. Yesterday he nearly jumped in Jackson’s arms, but now he just stays near Sandy. That dog is absolutely smitten with her.

‘Sandy,’ Lacey says, pushing past the guys, before she rushes towards her friend. Sandy stands up and hugs Lacey, a bright smile on her face.

‘Did she stay the night?’ Jackson asks softly.

‘No, I picked her up today at the dance studio.’ In a louder tone Henry asks: ‘What are you two doing here?’

‘We wanted to know what happened last night after we left, but Sandy wasn’t at her apartment, so we figured she was here,’ Lacey says, wrapping her arm around Sandy. ‘Turns out she was.’

It’s too hot to sit outside, so Jackson and Lacey grab some chairs, so they can all sit in the living room. Jackson did suggest something about the girlfriends sitting on their lap, but seeing the bright red color on Sandy’s face, made even Lacey slap her boyfriend.

Sandy walks with him to the kitchen, as he is grabbing something to drink for them. ‘I didn’t know they would be here.’

She shrugs. ‘It’s okay, maybe we can play some Mario Kart.’

Henry laughs, as he sees her mischievous smile. ‘That sounds like an excellent idea.’

She wraps her arm around his, her fingers grazing over his lower arm. ‘Just be prepared that Lacey will probably drag out information out of the both of us,’ she whispers.

His skin is on fire with the way she is touching him right now. ‘Same goes with Jackson. Honestly it’s a match made in heaven.’

‘Henry,’ Sandy says in a serious tone and he looks down, meeting her dark eyes. She shakes her head. ‘No, never mind, this is an inappropriate moment. Forget it.’

She lets go of him and wants to grab the glasses to bring to the lovebirds in the living room, but Henry stops her, holding her hand. ‘No, no, no, Sandy, now I’m intrigued. What did you want to tell me? Remember, you can say anything to me.’

‘I wasn’t going to tell you anything,’ she says, ‘just show you something.’

He doesn’t think he understands, but then she stands on her toes, to give him a peck on his cheek, placing her hand on the side of his face. After her lips let go of his cheek, he feels her hot breath against his burning skin. He wants this moment to last forever. He places his hand in the dip of her waist, pulling her closer to his body, desperately wanting to feel her close to him.

As much as he wants to kiss her, he can’t do it with the other two right there.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispers.

Henry shakes his head. ‘Don’t be. Not for this.’ He takes a deep breath, before he presses a light kiss on her forehead. Their eyes meet, as he watches her cheek grow in a perfect pink color.

‘Where are our drinks?’ Jackson yells.

Okay, Henry is back to the real world, though he still can’t believe that they are one step further in their relationship.

They hold the glasses, as they walk into the living room. Sandy hands the two glasses to Lacey and Jackson, before she plops on her side of the couch. He sits next to her, leaving Jackson to wink at him, causing Henry to roll his eyes.

‘I was really wondering what happened after we left,’ Jackson intrudes.

‘Not much,’ Henry says, ‘we talked a bit more, played some Mario Kart and like the true gentleman I am, I brought her home.’

‘That’s it?’ Lacey asks.

‘I want to take it slow,’ Sandy admits, not looking at anyone, but Kal, who sits in front of her.

‘We decided to take it slow,’ Henry adds.

Lacey nods. ‘Well, Henry, you sure are doing something real good, because Sandy isn’t the type of person to be easily comfortable around other people. When I took her with me to meet some old friends, she walked out of the restaurant without saying anything. But look at her now, sneakily sliding closer to you.’

He is impressed. Lacey notices everything, just like Jackson does. Sandy has indeed sneaked closer to him and her leg is touching his. If there weren’t other people around and if she was ready for it, he’d pull her onto his lap. It feels like it would fit perfectly. He can’t wait for them to explore more of these things.

‘Jackson, would you like to play some Mario Kart?’ Henry asks, when he notices that Sandy is getting really uncomfortable.

‘Sure, I’ve been practicing.’ He looks over at Lacey and says: ‘This guy is pretty good, so constantly losing wasn’t good for my self esteem.’

‘How about you race Sandy?’ Lacey suggests.

‘I don’t want to beat her.’ Jackson stands up to start up the Wii.

Lacey looks over at Henry and from the looks of that wink, she knows about Sandy’s talent for this game as well. ‘I wouldn’t underestimate her,’ she tells her boyfriend.

‘She never makes it easy for me,’ Henry adds.

Jackson shrugs. ‘Well, I beat some of the guys the other night, you know. The guys from that bar.’

‘Impressive,’ Henry says.

Sandy turns to Henry, her eyes widened. ‘Don’t you worry about a thing,’ he whispers. ‘You’ll do amazing, Sandy.’

‘Are you sure?’ she asks.

‘Those guys at the bar are even worse than me,’ he chuckles. ‘Trust me.’

She looks over her shoulder, to discover that Lacey is staring at her boyfriends ass and not making a secret out of it Sandy leans over to him, to press a kiss on his cheek. ‘I trust you,’ she whispers back, her face only mere millimeters from his. He could do it, but with what happened yesterday, he simply can’t. He bumps her nose carefully with his. It earns him a soft and sweet giggle, before he stands up from the couch, so he can sit next to Lacey.

‘I almost feel sorry for him,’ Lacey says, as they watch Jackson handing Sandy her Mario Kart wheel, ‘but he really shouldn’t have underestimated her.’

Jackson sits next to Sandy. ‘What cup do you want to race, Sandy? Mushroom Cup?’ he asks her, after they chose their characters. Like usual Jackson goes for Bowser, while Sandy picks Baby Daisy.

‘You’re insulting me,’ she tells Jackson, with the driest face he has ever seen on her. ‘Special Cup.’

‘That’s my girl,’ Henry says with a proud smile on his face.

‘Your lady has confidence, Cavill,’ Jackson admits. ‘Very admirable.’

They are starting the cup with the course Dry Dry Ruins and while Jackson definitely improved, he is no where near as good as Sandy. While she soars over the roads with ease, staying in first place without breaking a single sweat, he is struggling to keep his fourth place. ‘Have to get used to this Wii,’ Jackson lies as he is pretty frustrated and Sandy looks over to Lacey and Henry, an amused smile on her face.

Jackson isn’t aware there is a possibility for a faster start and to make things even worse, he even has a bad start the next course, while Sandy shoots forward. His best friend is getting really frustrated, while Sandy has a big smile on her face.

‘She’s pretty isn’t she?’ Lacey asks. The other two are too sucked into the game to listen in on them, Jackson muttering something under his breath and Sandy continues to stay first place with a gorgeous smile on her face.

‘Breathtakingly so,’ Henry says. ‘Thanks for giving me her number.’

Lacey chuckles. ‘You know, with me she’s always happy, but for a while I was getting worried. She really wasn’t leaving her house, except to go to her favorite cafe. Since you barged into her life, she’s barely home.’

Henry grabs Kal’s collar, so he doesn’t distract Sandy.

‘Can you imagine a life without her?’ she quietly asks.

‘No,’ he whispers. ‘She’s everything I was ever looking for.’

‘And you are everything she was ever looking for. You are exactly the man that she needs and deserves. Poor thing told me a lot about her ex and you are doing the exact opposite from what he did.’

Henry leans back in his chair. ‘She deserves so much better than me. I can’t give her what she needs, what she deserves.’

‘You’re right,’ Lacey says, ‘but you are the only one that comes close.’

He isn’t sure about that, but he simply crosses his arms in front of his chest. He stares at the pretty woman who is winning the race with ease, while Jackson comes in sixth.

‘She’s too good,’ Jackson says, shaking his head. ‘Fuck.’

‘Very good, Sandy,’ Lacey says.

‘Proud of you,’ Henry adds.

Bowser’s Castle isn’t going well for Jackson, but the Rainbow Road is an utter disaster. Sandy is a lap ahead of him, and finally she crosses the finish line, as Jackson continues to struggle and fall off the road at a miserable twelfth place.

Sandy takes the wheel from him and starts to race him from an abysmal twelfth place to a nice eighth place. Henry is aware that she can perform certain miracles, but this was a lost cause anyways.

‘How is you this good?’

‘You are looking at the three time Mario Kart champion of UCLA,’ Lacey says, while she looks at her friend like a proud mother.

Jackson looks at Sandy. ‘You were what?’ He doesn’t let her answer though, because he stares at Henry. ‘You let me race her, knowing damn well that she was this good?’

‘I did.’ Henry stands up from the chair, so he can sit next to Sandy again. ‘She’s amazing, isn’t she?’

‘This is so mean,’ Jackson says, placing the console on the coffee table. ‘God, my ego.’

Henry can’t help but to place his hand on her back, his pinky touching the skin that isn’t covered by her skirt or the matching top.

‘I totally underestimated you, Sandy,’ he tells her. ‘Sorry.’

She shrugs. ‘Henry did too, so it’s not really that bad.’

Jackson smiles. ‘You know, I’ve known Henry for a long time, but what you do to him, is something I have never seen before.’

‘Oh,’ is her only answer.

‘I’ve never seen him this smitten with someone.’


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, I spend nearly every second with Henry. Though there are responsibilities for me to handle (for example, filming something), I somehow can’t seem to pick up the camera. 

The only thing I want to do, is to be around Henry. During the day I helped him editing his first vlog, which is mostly a compilation of him being adorable with Kal, him making nerdy comments and him cooking.

Most of the day we’re inside, since it’s pretty hot outside and Henry has a lovely air cooler, so it’s bearable. Henry was set on me teaching him some dance moves, but during the stretches we did beforehand, I could already see it was going to be hopeless. The way he lifts weights, he constantly tells me he could use me as a weight, is a great indicator of how strong he is.

But he is not fluid, he has very little coordination when it comes to dance moves and I think I laughed more than I taught him anything useful.

Around seven in the evening, we decide to talk Kal out for a walk. We go to the same beach where we went to the first time we walked Kal together. A lot has changed since then. Around a week ago, I had no idea what to say to him and I was a nervous wreck. Today however, our fingers are intertwined as we walk across the sand, watching Kal jump in and out of the water.

‘This is nice,’ he admits, hooking the thumb of his other hand behind the strap of his backpack. ‘I had fun today, though I think I pulled a muscle in my back during those body rolls.’

I start to laugh again. ‘At least you tried,’ I chuckle.

‘You can massage me.’

My cheeks flare up, but I decide to not let this get to me. ‘I could,’ I retort.

Henry looks at me, a smile on his lips. ‘When we get to my place again, we’ll quickly wash Kal and I’m ready for my massage.’

Shit, what do I say to this? I have no idea, so I say: ‘Okay.’

He squeezes my hand. ‘Oh, by the way, I want to thank you for that delicious meal you made.’

‘No problem, I like cooking for you. I just hope that you don’t have to sit with your back to me every time we eat. Imagine if you and I ever go out for dinner.’

Henry starts to laugh. ‘Well, I’d do it for you, without a doubt.’

I still don’t quite understand what I did in life to deserve a guy as caring and patient as Henry Cavill. It’s unbelievable, having someone around that is this kind, this sweet, this handsome.

I would love to take the next step with him. I want to kiss him, but I chicken out every single time before I even lean in.

Kal brings Henry a stick, dropping it in front of our feet and I let go of his hand, so he can play with his dog. I watch Henry as he throws the stick for Kal into the lake. My heart flutters a bit. _He looks so strong doing this._

I watch his bicep tighten up every time he throws the stick. It’s still beyond me that this man is as strong as he is. Without even blinking twice, he carries four large grocery bags into my apartment and he keeps bragging about carrying me.

Before I personally met him, I read fanfics about him and yes, I also read the smutty ones. It’s moments like these, where I have full vision on his strong arms, that my fantasies go a little crazy. I think about him pushing me against the wall or the mattress, caging me in between the hard surface of the wall and his strong body and arms. I dream about his thick thighs. I dream about him undressing me, kissing every piece of bare skin. What would it be like to have honest to God sex with him?

I feel like the fanfics wouldn’t be to far off. I think he’d be dominant, but sweet. I think he knows within minutes, if not seconds, what he should do to please me.

Henry looks over his shoulder and smiles at me. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he says in a loud tone, since I’m a few feet behind him.

‘Shut up.’

‘Never,’ he laughs. ‘I’ll tell you you’re beautiful every single day.’ He turns around again, teasing Kal a bit with the stick, pretending to throw it in the water.

My surroundings start to move and turn. I feel a little dizzy and I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping I won’t feel like I’m about to collapse.

I hear Kal bark out of excitement as he enters the water. I lose strength in my legs and drop the sand. I let out a groan as I make contact with the soft sand. Kal barks again, but whines too when I hear him exit the water. ‘Kal, buddy, what’s wrong?’ I hear Henry ask him.

Heavy footsteps are approaching me and Kal licks my face.

The calmness in Henry’s voice changes to something a bit more panicked when he yells: ‘Shit, Sandy.’ He rushes towards me, crouching down and placing a hand on the side of my face. ‘Are you okay? What happened?’

‘I got dizzy,’ I say, pushing myself up when things stop moving.

Henry searches through his bag and holds up some salty crackers. ‘Here, eat some of this,’ he says, handing me one. He places his large hand on my back to give me some support.

My hands are shaking and my breathing is all over the place and Henry notices right away. Of course he noticed. He takes the cracker from me and brings it to my lips

‘I’m sorry,’ I say after I took a bite.

‘No, Sandy, don’t apologize.’ Henry gently smiles at me. ‘This isn’t important enough to apologize over.’ He continues to feed me the cracker, his fingers drawing circles on my back. ‘You scared me though.’

‘I can’t remember the last time I collapsed like this,’ I mumble, licking the crumbs of my lips.

‘You better not make a habit out of it,’ he tells me. ‘That’s not good for my health.’

I chuckle, feeling better already. ‘Thank you, Henry.’

‘No problem. You okay?’

‘Yeah, maybe when I’m back at your place, I should drink something.’

‘Why wait,’ he begins, ‘when I have water right here?’ He pulls out a bottle of water and twists off the cap. ‘Here you go.’

‘You take good care of me,’ I say, before taking a sip, followed by four more.

‘Everything for my lady,’ he says.

He says it so casually, like he always calls me his lady. Yesterday he said: ‘That’s my girl’ and I felt so loved. I normally wouldn’t like that, since it almost sounds like I’m his property, but with the affection he spoke with, I loved every syllable of it.

Henry leans in and I feel the tip of his nose against mine. ‘Better already?’

‘Mhm, thanks Henry.’

He puts the bottle back. ‘Kal, buddy, we’re going home,’ he says. The big hound struts toward us and Henry puts the leash on his collar. ‘Could you hold this?’ he asks, before handing me the end of the leash.

He sticks his arms underneath my knees and back, before he stands up, lifting me in the process.

I squeal. ‘You don’t have to do that,’ I laugh. ‘I can walk, Cavill.’

He simply laughs it off, carrying me off the beach, before he gently places me on my feet again. ‘If you feel slightly dizzy on our way back, promise me that you’ll tell me.’

He holds out his pinky and with a chuckle I hook mine in his, adding a soft: ‘Promise.’

⟢⟡⟣

I’m highly impressed with how Henry literally _carries_ Kal upstairs and into the tub. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised that he is that strong, but this is next level. Besides, I thought he pulled a muscle in his back.

The large Akita is wagging his tail the entire time, as Henry rinses off the dirt out of his thick fur. I scratch Kal behind is ears, earning me some licks.

‘This is the only downside of letting him swim,’ he complains. ‘Especially if he goes to the muddy part of the water.’

‘But look at this face,’ I say, smooching Kal’s face together. ‘He enjoyed himself so much.’

‘He did, he did,’ Henry says with a smile on his face. ‘How is your head by the way? Still dizzy?’

‘Nope and besides, I promised you to tell you if I felt dizzy again.’ I let go of the Akita, so I can sit on the edge of the tub, my hand toying with the sleeve of Henry’s shirt. He looks up, halting his washing duties for a moment.

‘That feels nice,’ he admits, when my hand touches his skin. ‘Just like it did holding your hand.’

I smile. ‘It did.’

I honestly don’t know how it happens, but I slide off the edge and I shriek when I land on my butt in the tub, my legs up in the air, while I lean with my back against Kal, who enjoys this way too much, because he licks the side of my face.

‘Oh my God, Sandy,’ Henry says, as he holds back a laugh. ‘How did this even happen?’

‘I don’t know,’ I giggle.

Henry holds me underneath my arms, before he pulls me up and finally lets out that laugh that he held back. ‘Klutz,’ he jokes.

I feel his hands travel down to my waist, while I place mine on his strong upper arms. I could kiss him now, I think to myself. He told me that he doesn’t mind that we’re taking it as slow as we’re going right now. He is in love with me and he knows that I’m falling incredibly hard for him as well.

Why is it so hard for me to just kiss him then? I already pecked his cheek twice, I can kiss him as well, can I?

But what if I do it wrong? What if I mess this up?

‘You’re pretty,’ he whispers, a smile toying on his face.

Do you always have to blush, Sandy? I clear my throat. ‘Henry, would you mind if we kissed?’ _That’s one way to be direct._

He shakes his head. ‘Absolutely not, but only if you want to. Remember, I don’t want to push you into doing things you might regret.’

‘I won’t regret this, it’s just that I’m overthinking the entire situation and that is making me more and more nervous.’

‘It’s kissing,’ he tells me, ‘you shouldn’t have to overthink that. You’ll do amazing, I just know it for sure.’

I take a deep breath. I should do it. He wants me to and I want it too. Desperately so.

‘May I?’ he asks, leaning in a bit.

Here goes nothing. Before I can overcome the distance between us, Kal barks and I let out a surprised scream. I turn around, only to see him shaking his body and drops of water fly around the bathroom.

Henry chuckles, though I can see a flash of disappointment flashing through his eyes. Honestly, I totally get it. He sighs and says: ‘You know, if you blow dry Kal, I’ll get you some dry clothes.’

‘My underwear is wet as well.’ Oh my God, why would you say something like that? I open my mouth, shaking my head, hoping I can save myself from this embarrassment, but I can’t seem to find the right words to tell him.

‘Figured,’ he smiles. He hands me the blow dryer. Before he walks out of the bathroom, he presses a kiss on my forehead. He does it so casually, I can’t believe this. ‘Be right back, Sandy.’

Will this be how it will go on from now? He gives me mindless kisses, simply because he can? If so, I can’t wait for whatever comes next.

I look at Kal and mumble: ‘Did you really have to bark?’ I plug in the dryer and add: ‘I almost kissed him, you ball of floof. It’s a good thing that you are so cute, so I can forgive you this right away.’ I turn on the blow dryer and start to dry parts of his fur, something that happens pretty quickly. I feel a large hand on my shoulder and I look up to see Henry, so I turn off the blow dryer.

‘I have some stuff for you,’ he says. ‘And please don’t feel uncomfortable, but when you showered here, you accidentally left your underwear here. I washed it and put it into the guest room. Comes in handy now, doesn’t it?’

 _I want to die._ ‘You washed my underwear?’ That’s so domestic, so something that one does when you’re in an established relationship.

We haven’t even kissed yet!

‘It’s just a piece of fabric, Sandy,’ he laughs. ‘I’ll leave you to it. If you want, you can leave your clothes here. I can wash them for you.’

I smile. ‘That’s sweet.’

He carries Kal out of the tub and out of the bathroom, before I push the door close behind him. ‘Oh my God,’ I mouth. When I tell Lacey about this, she is going to flip.

I shed myself from my shirt and short and underwear, patting myself a bit dry with a towel, before I put on my own pair of pink underwear. I can’t believe that is the type of underwear I leave here.

I have sexy black of white panties, with lace and little see through parts. I could’ve left that here.

No, wait, come to think of it, I’d probably die of embarrassment if I left that here.

I see he gave me a shirt of his and a short that I think would be pretty tiny on him, but then I remember those lovely pictures I had seen of him running and he wore something like this. I put on the shirt and I realize it smells like him. The fresh scent he always carries with him.

I sigh. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to wake up beside him? To be under the blankets that smelled like this with him? To bury my face in his pillow?

I quickly get dressed, put my clothes into his washing bin and walk downstairs, in clothes that are honestly that big, that I’m nearly drowning. Henry smiles when he sees me enter the living room. ‘There you are,’ he says. ‘God, how come you look better in my clothes than I do?’

‘Don’t say stuff like that,’ I whisper.

‘I will,’ he tells me, ushering me to come over to sit with him on the couch.

‘Where is Kal?’

‘In the yard, so he can dry some more.’ He looks to the side and says: ‘I think you promised me a massage.’

I smile. ‘Where does it hurt?’ I ask him.

He points to his puckered lips. ‘Right here.’

‘That is disgustingly cheesy.’

‘I thought it was clever,’ he laughs. ‘Besides, I think you and I were in the middle of something before Kal brutally interrupted us. But only if you still want to, of course.’

I bite my lip. ‘I still want to,’ I whisper.

Henry smiles, burying his hand in my hair, his fingertips massaging my scalp. He gently pulls me closer, the tip of his nose against mine for a few seconds. I place my hands on his beautiful face and lean in. His soft lips fit perfectly on mine, though I stiffen up for a millisecond. His other hand rests on my back, pulling me even closer to his body than before. He carefully opens his mouth, his tongue timidly exploring mine.

Oh my fucking God, am I really kissing Henry Cavill? The hottest man on earth? The sweetest man currently alive? This is not the right time to start hyperventilating.

If I could, I’d kiss him forever, but I have to pull back to catch my breath. I place my forehead against his and take a deep breath when our lips part. ‘Wow,’ I manage to choke out.

He laughs, a warm breath against my lips. ‘Pretty wow indeed.’ The hand that is intertwined with my hair, pulls me closer to him, allowing him to press a kiss on my jaw, my cheekbone, before he reaches my lips. ‘You do understand that I’ll never stop kissing you after this, right?’

‘I am aware and I don’t want you to.’

Henry places his forehead against mine ‘You’re such an excellent kisser, Sandy Choi,’ he whispers. ‘Please don’t feel insecure about it, ever again. That asshole of an ex-boyfriend of yours was probably a terrible kisser himself.’

I snicker, as my thumb slowly grazes over his mouth and he presses a soft kiss on it. ‘Well, he wasn’t you,’ I say. ‘He’ll never be you, Henry. No one ever will.’

⟢⟡⟣

I can’t stop kissing Henry Cavill was honestly a sentence I never thought I’d ever say. The entire evening, we spend kissing and I fear I may have dislocated my jaw. Around ten in the evening, he takes me home. I’m holding onto him, as he insisted on giving me a piggy back ride.

‘What are your plans tomorrow?’ Henry asks.

‘I have a meeting with my editor. The arc’s are going out in a few days.’

‘The what?’

‘Advanced Readers Copies,’ I explain, giving him a kiss on his cheek. ‘So beta readers can give their final opinions.’

Henry nods. ‘I’m not a beta reader, but can I read it?’ he asks.

I smile. ‘Of course, they always give me a few extra arc’s, so you can read it. I’m curious to know what you think of it. It’s yet again a young adult one, so I don’t know if you’ll like it.’

‘I love your books, Sandy,’ he tells me. ‘So I know for a fact that I’ll love this one too.’

We stand in front of my apartment building, but I don’t want to say goodbye just yet, not after everything that happened between us. ‘You want to come in?’ I ask, when I’m back on my feet again. ‘You have never seen my apartment before.’ Then I realize that is not entirely true. ‘In real life I mean.’

Henry chuckles. ‘Of course.’

We walk up the stairs and we step into my apartment. I always loved the more creme/beige kind of color palette, almost like it’s always during the golden hour.

It’s really hot in here, so I open a window, hoping to get some fresh air inside.

He wanders around, checking out the pictures on the wall. He doesn’t say a lot, almost as he is taking in my apartment, bit by bit. He smiles when he sees the picture on the wall that he gave me. ‘I love this one,’ he admits. ‘The photographer did great.’

Henry sees my Nintendo switch on the coffee table, that I decorated with a pink case. ‘How is your island going?’ he asks.

I shrug. ‘I haven’t been on there for about a week. A certain someone was distracting me.’

I swear that I see Henry buff out his chest with pride, causing me to roll my eyes and chuckle. ‘You’re apartment looks delicate,’ he says, walking over to me, placing his large hands on my shoulders, pressing a soft kiss on my forehead. ‘Just like you. It feels really homey, I love it.’

I place my hands on his chest. ‘I don’t know if I can hang out with you tomorrow. I have the book stuff, I’m going to hang out with Lacey and I’m going to vlog it all, so…’

‘That’s okay,’ he says, ‘but that does mean that I need a goodbye kiss.’

‘You’re an idiot.’

‘I was going for romantic, but okay,’ he laughs.

I plant my lips on his and his hands go from my shoulders to my waist, his calloused touch against my skin.

‘I could kiss you forever,’ he whispers against my lips. ‘How did I get so lucky?’

I take that was a rhetorical question, so I don’t answer it. He presses a kiss on the tip of my nose and whispers that he has to go, take Kal out for one last walk. I walk him to the door of my apartment. ‘I’ll text you tomorrow,’ he promises me, kissing my hand one more time before he walks off. When I close the door behind him, I let out a sigh of relief, grateful that I didn’t embarrass myself. I want to whip out my phone, to tell Lacey all about this, but I get an incoming message from Henry.

 **Henry** 🌻 **:** Look out your window.

I rush towards the window, to see him standing outside. I lean out of my window and he whisper shouts: ‘I miss you already, Choi.’

I burst out into laughter. ‘You’re a dork, Cavill.’

‘Be a little bit more romantic, Sandy. I know you can do it. You ran to my house, remember?’ He sends me a beautiful smile and says: ‘Now tell me that you miss me too.’


	11. Chapter 11

**Sandy** 💕 **:** I’m sorry, Henry, but I’ll be there at seven, instead of five. I have to call some people for the book and all. I’m really sorry.

 **Henry:** Sandy, my darlin’, you hurt me real bad.

 **Sandy** 💕 **:** No, no, no, not again.

 **Henry:** You know it’s true.

 **Sandy** 💕 **:** Shut up, Henry.

 **Henry:** But baby, you gotta believe me when I say…

 **Sandy** 💕 **:** Don’t.

 **Henry:** I’m helpless without you.

 **Sandy** 💕 **:** You always do this, but you never sing for me in real life ☹️

Two weeks after they shared their first kiss, a lot has changed for Henry and Sandy. His YouTube channel has skyrocketed, already earning him 500k subscribers, even though he only posted two videos so far, that have received very positive feedback.

Sandy spends a lot of time here at his place and Henry loves every moment she can spend with him. He knows that for starters his YouTube channel wouldn’t be what it is today, if she didn’t help him as much as she does. Besides helping him with editing, she’s also creating her own content for her channel, editing some final things in her book (he honestly didn’t think it was necessary, since he loved it, but according to her it definitely was) and all in all, she’s the best thing that could ever happen to him.

When she arrives at seven on his doorstep and he opens the door, he is met with a Sandy that has her arms crossed in front of her chest. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asks her.

‘Why aren’t you singing Sandy to me now?’ she pouts.

Henry can’t stop smiling at her, leaning against the doorframe. ‘You didn’t seem to like it. You even told me to shut up.’

‘Yeah, through texts.’ She burst into laughing. ‘I can’t even fake that I’m mad when you have such a cute face. I just wish that you would sing to me. I think you have a lovely voice.’ Sandy steps inside and stands on her toes, giving him a long kiss on his lips.

Ever since that first kiss, it seems like the both of them can’t stop anymore. Like they’re even more intoxicated with one another. He can’t help himself anymore. Even when Jackson and Lacey are meeting up with them, he has to pull her closer to his body, he has to give her a kiss every now and then and he has to physically touch her in some sort of way.

‘Are you ready to record your Q&A?’ Sandy asks him.

A lot of fans requested that and he was a little hesitant first, but Sandy said that she knows for sure he’ll do great and that it’s nice for the fans to get to know someone they admire a bit better. She even brought some lighting equipment, so he could start record it tonight.

‘If I’m being completely honest, I’m happy that you are here. I’m a bit nervous.’

‘No need for,’ she says. ‘I’ll help you find some questions you can answer.’

‘How was your first Q&A?’ he asks.

She cocks an eyebrow. ‘You haven’t watched it yet, Henry? Deeply disappointed in you.’

He rolls his eyes, before he lets out a laugh and closing the front door behind her. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. How was it to film it?’

She shrugs. ‘It was a bit weird, but honestly not that weird. You can think about the questions first. How about you and I check out some questions beforehand, make some screenshots, so you can already think about the answers?’

‘Sounds good.’ He presses a long kiss on her forehead and together they walk into the living room.

‘There is my big bear,’ she says, crouching down to pepper Kal’s face with kisses. ‘Oh, how I have missed you.’

Henry watches as Kal whines while desperately trying to lick Sandy’s face. They were already best buddies, but the big fur ball is ecstatic whenever she spends time here, which in the past two weeks, has become a lot more. He barely leaves her side when she’s her.

The two of them walk to the table, where Henry has placed his phone, iPad and laptop. Before Sandy can sit on a chair, he holds out his hand. ‘Come here,’ he whispers. Just like many things, there is a lot that they have yet to uncover and her sitting on his lap is one of those things.

She hesitates for a second. ‘Are you sure?’ she asks.

‘I’m sure.’

‘But what if I’m too heavy?’

He furrows his brows. ‘Do you even hear yourself sometimes? I can handle it, Sandy, don’t you worry about a thing.’

She lets out a nervous chuckle. ‘I’m sorry,’ she laughs. ‘That was a stupid thing to ask.’ She lets herself sink on his lap and just like he figured, she fits perfectly. She wraps an arm around his shoulders, as he snakes an arm around her waist.

‘Henry,’ she whispers.

‘Yes?’

‘I’m happy to be here with you,’ she admits.

He smiles, while his stomach twists and turns in a good way. ‘Oh, I’m happy that you’re here too.’

She grabs his phone and scrolls through the questions, as he is completely distracted by her beauty this close to him. He presses his nose against her chubby cheek, earning him a few giggles every now and then, before he presses a few kisses on her skin. ‘I have an idea,’ she eventually says. ‘I saw a lot of questions, but you can divide them into certain chapters. Personal questions, movie related questions, about YouTube and some funny ones that deserve a chapter of their own.’

Henry nods in approval. ‘You sure you don’t want to use that for your own channel?’

She shakes her head. ‘No, because otherwise I wouldn’t have told you. Henry, I’m so proud of you and I want your channel to be even more of a success than it already is. If you set up the camera, I’ll start on those chapter things for the questions, okay?’

She wants to jump off his lap, but with one hand he holds her waist tightly, while he places his other hand on the side of her face. ‘You are amazing, Sandy Choi,’ he says, before stealing a kiss from her.

God, he’ll never ever get tired of kissing her.

She smiles against his lips and jumps off his lap. He stands up as well, to install the tripod in front of his couch. He places the camera on it, uses the lighting equipment she dropped off a few days ago.

He cleans up some of Sandy’s stuff that is slowly starting to spread around his place, something that he absolutely doesn’t mind. He likes having her stuff around. Whenever she’s not here, he gets reminded of her.

‘Why do you have so many pictures of me on your phone?’ he hears her ask.

‘What?’ he asks with a grin, as he walks back to the table.

She frowns a bit. ‘I was making a separate album for the questions, but then I stumbled upon an album that is filled with pictures of me. Half of the pictures I have never seen before.’

He stands next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. ‘I like taking pictures of you. Besides, I know for a fact that you secretly taking pictures of me too.’

Actually he doesn’t know, so it’s quite the stretch, but when she starts to blush like crazy, he knows he’s right.

‘Okay, I do that too.’

 _He knew it._ ‘You’re my favorite model, Sandy.’

⟢⟡⟣

Sandy is sitting outside with Kal, since he is really embarrassed about filming right in front of her, something she totally understood. He answers the questions that she prepared and he is happy that she did. He saw all those questions rolling in and he was overwhelmed by the response.

He answers the questions about Kal, about his newest movie and finally he arrived at the questions about his YouTube channel.

‘What inspired you in creating a YouTube channel?’ he reads the question out loud. ‘To be honest, I like watching YouTube videos.’ _Only Sandy Choi’s channel, but he is not ready to share with the world that he is totally obsessed with her._ ‘It helps me relax and I sure hope that the video’s I post are worth relaxing to and with as well.’ He scrolls further down and frowns when he sees the last question.‘Does someone help you with editing and if so, how did you find him/her?’ He is genuinely confused about this. He thought that she didn’t want them to know.

Henry decides to answer it anyway. He can always leave this one out. ‘I do, actually. The one and only Sandy Choi actually helped me with almost everything. I met her friend at a party and got her number. Sandy is such a big help and big inspiration. I watched her YouTube videos and got really inspired by it. Thankfully she’s an angel and helps me out the way she does, because without her I’d be a lost cause.’

He films the outro and turns off the camera, thinking about the last question.

She honestly doesn’t mind sharing with the world that they are working together? He walks to the backyard, where he sees her in the grass on her back, staring at the sky. Kal has placed his head next to her leg and wags his tail when Henry comes closer. He sits next to her, before laying down on his back as well. ‘Sweetheart, I have to ask you about something.’

She looks to the side. ‘Sweetheart? Did you just call me that?’

He didn’t even realize that he did that. ‘Oh shit, I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be, I really like it.’ Her hand looks for his and they intertwine their fingers together. ‘What did you want to ask me? Did I do something wrong?’

He hates that she thinks that she did something wrong. ‘No, no, I was wondering about the last question. About who helped me out with the channel and editing. I thought you didn’t want people to know?’

She shrugs. ‘Honestly, I don’t really mind. As long as our… Whatever we have stays private for a while.’

He now looks at her too. ‘Our what? What are we, Sandy?’

‘A couple?’ she asks. ‘Are we in a relationship? ‘She wrinkles her nose. ‘Is that what we are?’

‘Not if you scrunch up your nose like that,’ he laughs.

She chuckles. ‘It’s not from disgust, promise you. It’s… It’s because it’s scary. Other than that, I’d love for us to be official.’

‘I’d love that too,’ he whispers. He lets go of her hand, before he invites her to snuggle against his frame. She turns to her side, wrapping her arm around his waist and placing her leg over his. ‘But what about this question?’

‘You can name me. I want you to.’

‘Okay,’ he says and he kisses the top of her head. ‘That’s all I wanted to know.’

Since he’s done filming, he can’t possibly hear his own voice anymore. Thankfully, Sandy is in a talkative mood and she keeps telling him about her dancing, while her head is securely placed on his shoulder. ‘I was thinking about maybe filming it and uploading.’

‘Really? What song?’ he asks.

‘Something that I choreographed a few weeks back. It’s Finesse by Bruno Mars. It’s different than what you saw the other day.’

‘Why aren’t you doing anything with it? I feel like you could teach young kids, teenagers even. You are really amazing.’

‘I might be a sort of good dancer, but I’m unable to teach other people. Besides, I would freeze.’

‘First,’ Henry says, causing her to turn a bit in his arms, so she can place her arms on his chest, making it easier for her to look at him. He can’t believe she is his beautiful _girlfriend_ now. He prizes himself so lucky when he stares at her. ‘You’re amazing.’

‘Shut up,’ she laughs.

‘Second of all,’ he smiles, ‘I want to know about your dancing journey, because no one is just this good out of no where.’

Sandy chuckles. ‘Well,’ she says, ‘I started to dance when I was four. I did some ballet for about three years, until I switched to jazz ballet and then I switch to hiphop.’

‘So, you can do everything?’

‘Not everything. I would suck at contemporary to be honest with you.’

‘I don’t think so. Your dancing is really fluid. But, that dance that you did awhile ago, what’s that?’

‘I don’t know actually. Just sensual.’

Henry smiles. ‘Well, I still dream about it.’

‘Shut up.’

‘It’s true,’ he laughs. ‘Honestly, I didn’t even recognize you when you did that.’

She frowns. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ Henry confirms. ‘You went from the sweet Sandy that I know, to a true performer. When you dance, I always have a hard time recognizing you, especially now that I know you in the way I do. However, that dance, took me by surprise.’

Sandy blushes. ‘It was nerve wrecking dancing in front of you,’ she admits.

‘But you did it anyways.’

‘Because I trust you,’ she whispers. ‘God, Henry, have you any idea what you are doing to me? You barged into my life, completely messing up all the things that I had gotten used to, that felt safe. But now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.’

He smiles, touched by her sweet words.

‘You know,’ she whispers, ‘when I danced in front of you, I was a nervous wreck for starters, but I… Wait, no, let me say it like this: when I was younger, I thought a lot during dancing. About eventually messing up, failing, stuff like that. After a while I stopped dancing in groups, because I stopped all together, because I went to college and met my ex Danny. When we broke up, I was a mess and started dancing by myself, hoping to feel better about myself. No one, besides the guy who owns the dance studio, could watch, because I was and still am, insanely self conscious when people watch my dancing in real life. But with you however, I felt like I could dance everything and you’d love it.’

He nods. ‘That’s true,’ he whispers. ‘I love every dance video you have on your channel, though the private show you gave me was by far my favorite.’

‘Do you have to call it that?’

He chuckles. ‘I do. Also, breaking up with him was the greatest thing you could’ve done. Still can’t believe that prick. Does he not know that you are the most talented and amazing woman on earth?’

She frowns, something Henry doesn’t understand.

‘Why are you frowning?’

‘Just thinking. I went from Danny to no one, to you. That’s a glow up.’

He smiles. ‘Glow up, you used that term in on of your videos. Glowing up for your last year of college.’

‘Wow, you remember that?’

‘Of course I do. I saw your first video three months ago, your newest channel trailer. I saw ever single one of your videos after that and been up to date ever since.’

She places her hand on the side of his face. He leans in to her touch, turning his face to give the palm of her hand a kiss. ‘What is your favorite video?’

‘Oh, shit, I can’t choose.’

‘One of your favorite videos.’

‘I love your dance videos for one, but I also love the vlog where you go cafe hopping here in London. That is such a calming vlog and when I watched that, I was pretty stressed out, so you made my day with that one. But all your vlogs have something magical, something insanely sweet and beautiful.’

Sandy sighs, before she sits up straight. He wants to ask her if she’s okay, but then she places a shaky hand on her lips. ‘What’s wrong, Sandy?’ He pushes himself up, so he is sitting next to her.

‘Nothing, nothing,’ she whispers, her voice cracking in the process. ‘You are so sweet and to hear that you honestly watched all of them means so much to me. I remember one day that one girl walked up to me and began explaining to me how she was depressed and how my videos helped her through the day. She watched them every day, no matter how many times she’d already watched them. Hearing those stories, hers, others, yours, it’s the reason I still do this.’

‘The reason you _still_ do this?’ he asks. ‘You don’t want to do this anymore?’

She shakes her head. ‘I enjoy it, I do, but there are times that I wonder when my time will be up. I’m twenty five now and as soon as I turn thirty, will I be interesting enough to watch anymore?’

‘Sweetheart, I’m thirty seven and—’

‘You’re a man, Henry,’ she interrupts him. ‘You don’t have an expiration date.’ She pets Kal, who looks up at her and places his head on her leg, simply to stare at her some more. ‘There is going to be a moment that I’m not going to make videos anymore,’ she says. ‘Tons of people are going to feel let down, but if I continue, I might overstay my time on YouTube.’

Henry sighs deeply. Kal sits up straight, so he can lick her face and he whines when he hears an almost painful sob, looking at his owner as he almost pleads for him to comfort her. He wraps his arms around her, pulling her between his thighs.

Henry has never seen her like this. Of course she is vulnerable from time to time. Every time she told him something about herself. Her inability to eat in front of him, how she wants to take it slowly. But this is on another level—her soft cries filling the night, how her entire body shakes.

He pulls her closer to his body, hoping that he can comfort her. ‘I’m sorry you feel this way.’ Henry softly kisses her temple. There is so much he wants to say to her, but also so much he feels like it’ll only make her even more sad.

She wants to push him away, saying: ‘I’m sorry, I’m being whiney.’

‘No, no, no,’ he tells Sandy sternly. ‘You are never whiney. These are legitimate thoughts, you should never apologize for something like that.’ He leans in and to pepper her face with kisses, tasting her salty tears on his lips. ‘Feeling a bit better?’

She shrugs. ‘I don’t know.’

Henry nods and takes a deep breath. ‘Stranded at the drivin’, branded a fool. What will they say Monday at school?’ he sings in a low voice.

She looks up, her tears evident in her eyes, that are red from crying. She sniffles a bit, but the fact that she’s looking at him, is a bonus.

‘Sandy, can’t you see, I’m in misery,’ he continues to sing, while he wipes away her tears.

While he is mid song, Sandy lets out a chuckle.

‘You don’t like?’ he asks with a smile.

‘I love it,’ she admits. ‘You have a lovely voice.’ She leans in to press a long kiss on his lips. ‘Thank you, Henry.’

‘For what?’

‘For making me feel noticed, safe and honestly: if I hadn’t met you at all, I think I was a pretty lost cause.’


	12. Chapter 12

A week passes that Henry filmed his Q&A and two days after he posted it. Right now, he walks next to Sandy. They’re on their way to the dance studio, where she reserved a practice room, because they are going to film her new dance video.

After last weeks confession and tears, he feels that she is really growing more and more comfortable around him.

‘Come on, sweetheart,’ he tries to persuade her, ‘just one picture. I’ve had tons of responses that they really want a picture of us together. They are so delighted that you helped me out with my YouTube channel.’

‘Well,’ she says, ‘maybe, but you have to show me the picture that you want to post.’

‘Obviously,’ he smiles, opening the door for her.

‘Hi Wesley,’ she says, ‘room four free?’

Wesley looks up. ‘Always for you,’ he laughs. ‘Hi Henry, you’re allowed to watch again?’

‘That one time he wasn’t necessarily allowed,’ Sandy says.

Henry chuckles. ‘I’m taking over your job, Wes. She wants me to film.’

‘And here I was thinking I was special.’ Wesley shakes his head. ‘Well, I raised the bar pretty high, so good luck.’

Henry opens the door of room four and lets her pass. While she gets everything ready, he sets up the camera, checking out the lighting, but decides to leave that to her. She’s the expert after all. He pulls out his phone and checks his pictures, so desperately wanting to find a decent picture of them.

He swipes through them, seeing tons of pictures where it’s obvious that she’s either sitting on his lap (it’s her new favorite spot and Henry is absolutely not complaining at all) or even that one of them is kissing the other. He loves those pictures with all his heart, but he can’t post that. Not yet at least. He honestly can’t wait for them to go public, but she’s not ready, so he has to wait.

Henry finally finds a picture that he absolutely adores: they are sitting at the table, Sandy has her heels planted on the edge of the chair, while her elbows are placed on her knees. Henry attempts a duckface, while Sandy laughs at him

‘How about this one, love?’ he asks her and she looks up from setting the lighting panel.

She looks at his phone and rolls her eyes. ‘That’s the picture you want to post?’

‘I love this picture.’

She smiles. ‘Well, I look pretty good in that picture. You’re a bit weird though, but who am I to judge? I mean, even your selfie game is pretty low.’

‘Excuse me?’ Henry asks, standing up to walk over to her. ‘I make great selfies.’

‘Sure.’ She stands on her tippy toes to give him a quick peck on his jaw, since she can’t reach any higher. ‘Could you do something for me? Could you move that lamp to right next to the camera?’

‘Sure thing, love.’

‘And afterwards, you can post that picture,’ she chuckles.

God, he still can’t believe how lucky he is. She helps him out in a way that it’s nearly ridiculous. She works hard for her own channel, while preparing herself for the publication of her book, that is currently planned for December and she helps him out a lot. Yet she barely wants credit, something he doesn’t really understand. 

He moves the lamp next to camera, before he quickly goes to work, so he can post that picture. He makes sure it has a nice filter over it, before he posts it on Instagram, with a sweet caption, nothing to lovey dovey. Though he wishes he could, you know. He wants to show the world how much he loves her.

_Hold up a minute._

How much he loves her? Is that even possible? How long does he know her? Like a month and they only have been truly together for three weeks of those. Can he already know that he loves her?

In his other relationships, he fell hard and loved them quickly. It’s how he is. The way he feels about Sandy, is different, but yet again: he fell hard for her and he does love her. A lot.

When can he say that to her though?

‘Okay, check your Instagram.’ Finally, the two of them follow each other, since the news broke out that she helped him out with his channel and now they comment on each others pictures. They always comment the same thing. He leaves a bear emoji and she leaves a sunflower emoji—their little inside joke.

She pulls out her phone and reads out loud: ‘This woman is by far the most talented person I’ve ever met. Besides her own channel, her book (that is really good everyone, just saying), she helps me out with making my channel and videos to what it is today. Without her, it would’ve been a mess or simply non existent. Thank you, Sandy.’ She looks up only to smile. ‘With a bear emoji. Goodness, you are legit the cutest in the world.’

Sandy checks out her make-up in the mirror and gives him some tips about how to film. He listens intently, though he is slightly distracted by her outfit. She wears a tight black short with a short mint green top above it, matching it with a pair of black sneakers.

His mind starts to wander, thinking about this morning, when she sat on his lap, while they were heavily making out. He doesn’t really know how they ended up in that position, his hands slipped underneath her loose shirt, how she whimpered against his mouth when he squeezed her sides, but he knows that this short had something to do with it. She had worn stuff this tight and this short before, but this thing made him desperate and hungry for more.

He felt like they could’ve gone a step further, had she not frozen when his hands started to go up near her bra. He didn’t know if it was him, that he was going way too quick or that she thought back about her ex, who he honestly wants to kill. He even looked the idiot Danny Hensen up online, wanting to know what kind of idiot would say those things to her. From the looks of it, he is still pretty close with his idiotic college friends, who Henry also passionately hates.

‘You know what’s funny?’ Sandy asks him. ‘I’m not even nervous.’

‘Means you’re getting comfortable around me.’ He smiles at her. ‘I’m proud of you, love.’

She walks up to him and hands him her phone, so he can press play for her. It looks like she wants to say something to him, but instead she simply puckers up her lips. He gets what she wants and he leans towards her, meeting her halfway. ‘I’m ready,’ she says. ‘Could you press play?’

⟢⟡⟣

 **missnina546:** this is by far the cutest picture I have ever seen.

 **juliettealvarezz:** Who knew the world needed to have a picture of Henry Cavill doing a duckface, while casually being judged by Sandy Choi?

 **hrodgers:** @sandychoi is such a lucky lady to be around him and helping our sweet boomer out with making his YouTube channel what it is today. What a queen.

 **lydiagrace:** this woman has more self control than anyone else. how is she not all over him?

 **katie_193:** tbh i totally ship this. they totally should do a YouTube video together.

After the two of them finished filming Sandy’s dance video, they went to his place and he watches as she is sitting in the backyard, Kal close to her, as she is calling with her dad. She looks at peace, especially when she laughs. He wonders if her parents know about them. He has yet to tell his family, but he decides to keep it a secret for awhile, so the two of them can test out the waters a bit more.

He stares at the last comment he read on Instagram. Beside the shipping part (he totally agrees), should they do a YouTube video together? He wouldn’t know what about, but part of him wants her to be included in his videos. In all of his videos for that matter.

‘Alright, I love you more and tell mom I’ll call her this week,’ he hears Sandy say, who walks inside again, Kal following her close. ‘Dad, don’t be ridiculous. No, I’m not going to put him on the phone. Later dad, bye!’ She hangs up, chuckles and says: ‘My dad can’t understand how screenshots work, but he does know that you posted a picture of us and he wants to know why I didn’t tell him I was working this closely with Clark Kent.’

Henry can’t help but to burst into laughter. ‘What did you say to him?’

‘That working with Clark Kent is a full time job and since I had barely time to do my own work, I couldn’t tell him.’ She walks up to him, straddles his lap and places her hands on his broad chest, nails digging in his muscles. ‘Besides he is also the biggest blabbermouth alive, I haven’t told him about us dating yet, because if so, his whole poker club would’ve known and if they know, it’s probably only a matter of time until TMZ finds out.’

He never could’ve thought that she would be this type of girlfriend, one that would just mindlessly sit on his lap like this. He wonders what she was like with her ex and before he can stop his mind, he asks: ‘What was your relationship with Danny like?’

Sandy frowns. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Did you do this with him?’ He pats the side of her thighs and she shakes her head, before saying: ‘No, never, unless he pulled me on his lap, but he barely did. Why?’

‘Just wondering.’

‘I’m not comparing the thing I had with Danny to what I have with you,’ she says. ‘Are you doing that with your exes? Comparing me to them?’

Henry shakes. ‘What I have with you, is totally different than what I had with them. It would be mean to them if I compared them to you, honestly.’

She smiles. ‘So, you’re not complaining that we haven’t had sex yet?’

‘No, love, a relationship is more than sex. I want you to be totally ready for it, not a single second before that, okay?’

‘You are the cutest, Henry. I’m such a lucky woman to be dating you.’ She leans in for a long kiss. ‘I’m going home,’ she tells him. ‘I have to edit a video.’

‘Can’t you pick up your stuff, so we hang out together more?’

‘I could do that,’ she says, ‘but what is in it for me?’

‘You can stay the night.’

Her eyes widen. ‘You want me to sleep with you in one bed?’

 _More than anything in the world._ ‘Yes, of course.’

She scrunches up her nose. ‘I’m not a pretty sight in the morning.’

‘That is nonsense,’ he tells her, pinching her cheek. ‘But only if you want.’

Sandy blinks a few times and eventually smiles. ‘I’d love to stay the night here, Henry.’

⟢⟡⟣

The two of them have edited the entire night, until it’s time for them to go to bed. Henry is already in his kingsized bed, reading his new script. Filming starts this autumn, but he was hoping that she’d join him during filming. He would’ve loved it so much if Sandy wanted to join him. Could he just ask that? Or would that be too much and too soon? Maybe she can’t even join him for that long. She has her own life here, she is probably needed for the release of her new book, some sponsorships and vlogs. Besides, what should she do in Scotland?

Sandy walks into his bed room, wearing nothing but a pink tank top and some white shorts, leaving part of her stomach bare and though he has seen her in shorts and crop tops, it’s nothing compared to this. Her face is make-up free and she has put her hair into a high bun, creating the illusion that she’s a bit taller than she really is, but he knows better by now.

‘Why are you staring at me?’ Sandy asks, stopping mid step. She stands in the middle of his bedroom and he can’t help but laugh, when he sees her slight pout.

‘I just got reminded again that I’m really lucky to have you in my life as my girlfriend,’ he simply states.

‘Sickening sweet, Cavill,’ she says, as she walks over to the empty side of the bed. She crawls underneath the thin covers and places her head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling.

She smells sweet, almost like fruit and he wonders if that’s the skin care products she mentioned in some of her videos. He places the script on his nightstand, before laying on his side, wrapping his arm around her small waist and buries his face in her neck. She squeals and tries to push him away from her, but he is stronger. ‘Relax, sweetheart,’ he laughs.

‘It tickles. It’s hard to relax when someone is tickling you.’ She tries to pry his arm from her waist, but he won’t comply.

He presses a few kisses on her sensitive skin, letting out a soft chuckle when she laughs. He pulls back, looking at her with flushed cheeks and glossy eyes of how much she laughed.

God, he loves her. He loves her so fucking much. Henry simply smiles at her, still in awe of how precious she looks right now.

‘Tell me what’s on your mind, Henry,’ she whispers, placing a delicate hand on the side of his face, slowly caressing his cheek.

‘I’m happy that you are staying the night.’

‘Are you now?’ she asks with a smile. ‘I’m happy I’m staying here as well.’ The way she bites her lip, makes his heart flutter. He leans in, to press a longing kiss on her lips. For a second he is afraid that she honestly wants to sleep, but she melts against his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulls her body closer to his.

Henry doesn’t know where this is going to end, but he wants to experience it all, no matter how long it’ll last. His tongue explores her, tasting the aftermath of his minty toothpaste she used.

‘Wait, wait,’ Sandy mumbles, pushing him slightly away.

‘It’s okay, love,’ he tells her, squeezing her waist.

‘No, wait, just listen, okay?’

Henry frowns, before he nods.

She sighs deeply. ‘I want to take the next step with you,’ she admits, ‘I truly do, but there are some things that I simply don’t know how they go and it makes me a bit uncomfortable.’

Her words nearly stumbled past her lips, leaving Henry a tad confused. ‘What don’t you know, Sandy?’ he asks, already thinking about how she’s a virgin, but he doesn’t quite believe that. She told him a few times that she did _certain bedroom activities_ with her stupid ex, but never disclosing what exactly.

‘I have never been eaten out before,’ she whispers. ‘And I feel like you’re the type of guy that does that, but what if I taste weird or I look hideous down there?’

He is still a bit taken aback. ‘Why not?’

‘Why not what?’

‘Why have you never been eaten out before?’

Her cheeks are flushed and she pushes herself up, leaning with her back against the headboard. ‘Danny never wanted to do that. He did it once for like a few seconds and told me I was disgusting.’

‘I’m going to kill that guy.’ He holds her hand, brings it to his lips, pressing kisses on her fingers. ‘I know that you will not taste weird and you’re not hideous. That’s just impossible.’

He hates the thought of that prick Danny touching her beautiful body and having sex with her. Not because Henry has this possessive thing, that he wants his girlfriend to be pure and untouched, until he comes along, but more because Danny simply didn’t deserve her. Didn’t deserve to see her naked, to see her during one of the most intimate, intense and vulnerable moments. 

‘I think I’m ready,’ she says with a soft smile.

‘I want you to be sure,’ he says sternly.

Sandy giggles. ‘I’m sure I’m ready, Henry,’ she whispers.

Henry nods. ‘Promise me you tell me to stop when you’re in pain or uncomfortable and you simply want to stop, okay?’

‘I promise.’

Henry stares at her lips for a few seconds, before he crashes his lips on hers. Though he wants to rip off her pajamas, he contains himself. Knowing that she trusts him, that she wants this with him, only makes him love her even more.

He pushes up the fabric of her tank top, her nipples visibly hardened through the thin fabric. Sandy slides her leg over his hips, her lips still planted on his so she can sit on his lap. ‘Can I take this off?’ he whispers.

‘Mhm.’

Weeks ago her ‘mhm’ would’ve made him hesitate, doubt himself even. Now he can tell the difference between a positive ‘mhm’ an a negative one.

And this was definitely a positive one.

He disregards her top, admiring her body for a few moments. ‘I’m such a lucky guy,’ he says, before pressing a kiss between her breasts, slowly working his way up to her lips. She lets out a shaky sigh. ‘You’re so beautiful.’ He kisses her, slow and long.

She pulls on his shirt and Henry smiles, before he undoes himself from the piece of clothing. Sandy bites her bottom lip. ‘Damn.’ It leaves her lips, before she realizes it from the looks of it. ‘You’re too good looking.’

‘You’re too gorgeous.’ He carefully pushes her on her back, sitting between her parted legs. ‘Can I?’

‘Mhm.’

Henry hooks his fingers past her waistband and pulls both her pajama shorts and her underwear off. He can’t believe this is truly happening. He admires her naked form and his boxers are already painfully tight around his groin.

He notices she is holding her breath. ‘You should breath, darling. I don’t want you to pass out on me.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she chuckles. ‘I’m nervous, that’s all.’

‘Not necessary. It’s just me.’

‘You just don’t seem to get it, do you?’ She props herself on her elbows, while he gently strokes the sides of her thighs. ‘It’s never just you, Henry, nor will it ever be just you. You are the greatest thing that could have happened to me, way out of my league.’

‘That’s not true,’ he tells her, leaning forward, to press kisses on her entire upper body, not missing a single piece of skin. ‘You are far out of my league, beautiful,’ he breathes below her belly button. He slowly descends from there, to her hipbone and he crawls back, until he is off the bed, kneeling in front of her. He pulls her to the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over his shoulders. His arms are wrapped around her hips, preventing her from eventual squirming away from him.

His tongue slowly drags over her inner thigh, before he sucks on the delicate skin, desperate to leave some marks there. Her center is dripping with arousal and Henry looks up, a sly smile appearing on his face when he sees how she’s already fisting the sheets, her breathing ragged.

‘Can I continue, sweetheart?’ he whispers, his mouth nearing her center.

‘Mhm, please.’ Her voice has never sounded so desperate, never so high pitched.

Fuck, this is making him even harder.

His tongue laps her entire cunt, earning him a loud gasp from her lips. She tastes delicious, better than anyone ever before. ‘You taste amazing,’ he says, ‘nothing to worry about, sweetheart.’

Her fingers run through his curls, her fingertips massaging his scalp, but she tugs the strands of his hair as he sucks on her swollen clit. ‘Shit, Henry,’ she cries out in a hoarse tone. He wets two of his digits between her folds, before he pushes one carefully in. He opens his eyes, as he watches her slowly but surely falling apart on the soft mattress. Sandy bucks up her hips, wrapping her legs tightly around his face and pulling him closer to her. ‘No, no, no,’ he hears her whimper.

‘Are you okay, my love?’ he asks her. ‘You want me to stop?’

‘No, it’s just this feeling… It’s so foreign.’ She smiles at him, but that smile changes into a look on her face that he has never seen of her, as he continues to lick and suck her aching cunt. Henry adds another finger and her warm velvety walls tightly wrapped around them.

He could do this forever. A quick fantasy of her sitting on his face, riding his mouth as he has his hands on her ample behind, runs through his mind. He was pretty adventurous with previous bed partners, but this had yet to happen. However he can imagine her on his face.

‘Henry,’ she whines, snapping him out of that fantasy, ‘I’m really close.’ A moan escapes from her lips, as he thrusts his fingers in and out of her.

She clenches around his thick fingers, her whimpers becoming louder and her legs start to shake. She cries out of pleasure, as she shakes underneath him. He sucks her clit as she rides out her high, until she pushes his face away from herself, pushing her legs together, soft pants filling the room.

Henry smiles at her, carefully pulling out his fingers. ‘You okay, Sandy?’

‘Shit, Henry,’ she pants. ‘You’ve got one hell of a skilled tongue.’

He can’t help but laugh, before he shreds himself from his underwear and climbs on the bed again between her legs. He makes sure he doesn’t smother her underneath his broad frame. ‘So beautiful,’ Henry whispers against her lips, before pulling her in for a kiss.

Her hand travels down in between the two of them, her fingers wrapping around his thick and hard length. ‘On your back, Henry,’ she whispers, as her nails softly drags over his throbbing cock, causing him to hiss.

He does what she told him to do. She kneels beside him, spreading the drop of pre cum over his tip, before her tongue cleans up. Henry lets out a strangled moan. The sight of her on her knees, leaned forward with her bum up and her back skillfully arched, gives him all sorts of ideas. He places a hand on the small of her back, as he watches her taking him in as far as she can. She hollows her cheeks, one hand massaging his balls, her other skilled hand tightening around him, jerking him off where her mouth can’t go. Yet.

He manages to keep his eyes open to look at his lady, but all he is met with is a wink from her. Fuck, he is about to burst if she continues to look like this.

He pulls her up, giving her a sloppy kiss on her wet lips. ‘As much as I want to cum in that pretty mouth of yours,’ he groans, ‘I’m not doing that right now.’ He stares at her and adds: ‘And you have to stop winking and biting your lip.’

She smirks. ‘Why?’

‘Because I’m using all of my will power to not push you into the bed to fuck the life out of you.’

‘Holy shit,’ she laughs. ‘I always pecked you for someone who was into dirty talk. Though I think you can do better than this.’

‘I’ll show you later,’ he whispers, causing her to smile. He pushes her on her back again, caging her body underneath his. ‘You on birth control, sweetheart?’

She nods. ‘Mhm, I am.’

‘You want me to use a condom?’ Henry would understand if she wanted him to, though he’d love it if he could just do it without a condom.

She stares at him for awhile, before she shakes her head. ‘No, I don’t.’

 _He loves her._ He pushes her legs apart with his knees, as he distracts her with kisses. ‘I’ll go slow and tell me when you’re in pain.’

‘I will.’

He guides his swollen tip to her entrance, teasing her a bit. He slowly pushes himself in, a loud moan leaving her lips. He never thought that she’d be this loud, but he is here for it. ‘More, Henry,’ she grunts and he slides inside of her. Her nails dig deep into his biceps, as she closes her eyes and throwing her head back, her moans filling the small bedroom. ‘Shit, you’re so big.’

A strangled moan escapes from Henry’s throat, as he bottoms out. Sandy feels so fucking tight around him. He buries his hand in her hair, breathing against her hot cheek. ‘You okay?’

She wraps her legs around his hips, hooking her ankles together. ‘More than okay.’

Henry slowly starts to thrusts deep inside her. ‘Faster, please, Henry,’ she begs,. He never wants to disappoint her. His thrusts speed up and she’s left a squirming and screaming mess, with tears dripping down her face.

He needs to hold it out a bit longer, but seeing her underneath him like this, her cheeks wet and hearing her make all of this noise, causes his cock to twitch deep inside her warm walls. ‘Fuck, sweetheart, you feel good around me.’ A desperate whine comes out of his mouth and she lets out a laugh.

‘Never pecked you for a whiney type,’ she pants.

‘Only for you.’ Knowing he can’t hold it out any longer, he starts to rub her clit, before he kisses her. She cries against him, as their tongues dance around each other.

Her lovely body starts to shake underneath him and it’s enough for him to tumble over his own edge. She lets out a soft sob and he joins her, spurting himself empty inside of her. He groans, burying his head in the nape of her neck, riding out his own high.

He swallows hard, staying inside her for a minute. ‘Are you okay, sweetheart? I think I let myself go there.’

Sandy chuckles. ‘I’m doing just fine.’

‘I never knew you could be this loud.’

‘Neither did I,’ she says, a mischievous smile on her face.

He carefully pulls out, before he lifts her up and carries her to the bathroom, while she clings onto him like a monkey. He turns on the shower and when the water is the right temperature, he steps under the stream of water.

‘Henry,’ she whispers, her legs securely wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck, ‘thank you.’

‘Are you thanking me for sex?’

‘I am,’ she chuckles. ‘It’s just that… I know we have a lot to explore in our relationship, but taking this step. I feel like you and I are ready for everything that comes across our path.’

Henry smiles, as he cradles her closer to his chest. She buries her face in the nape of his neck, pressing open mouthed kisses on his neck, sucking the tender skin. ‘What are you doing, sweetheart?’

‘You did it to me,’ she retorts, ‘and now I can’t wear shorts for a few days, so it’s only fair.’

He hums in content, before he slowly puts her back on her feet. He grabs some soap and lathers Sandy’s beautiful body, kissing her every now and then. ‘You are so precious,’ he says, softly bumping his nose against hers. ‘I’m so lucky.’

He watches her blush intensify, causing him to wrap her up in his thick arms.

After a long shower, he helps her dry off, though she insisted that she was capable of doing that herself. He carries her to the bed and asks: ‘You want something to wear?’

‘No, I’m good.’

He steps into the bed himself and pulls her naked body against his. ‘You know that you’re never going home now,’ Henry jokes.

Sandy starts to laugh. ‘I figured you’d say something like this.’ She looks up and gives him a kiss on his jaw. ‘You are amazing, Henry.’

He softly tells her sweet nothings, but when he doesn’t get any response anymore, he checks with her. She’s asleep, her mouth slightly agape and she drools on his chest. He chuckles, feeling a bit better about himself that she’s so relaxed with him.

‘I love you, Sandy,’ he whispers. ‘I love you so much.’


	13. Chapter 13

**Henry** 💖 **:** Sweetheart, please call me back, so I can tell you in person that it’s not that bad. Honestly, people have been very supportive of it. Please, please, please, let me know that you’re okay. I have to leave tomorrow for the shoots, but I can’t go if we haven’t talked about this, if we haven’t said a proper goodbye.

I’ve been dating Henry for almost two months now and I have lived on the biggest cloud nine ever since. I’m so comfortable around him. He can watch me dance, he can watch me eat now and we have tons of sex ever since our first time.

We’ve been pretty secretive about it though. Of course, people know that we work together for his videos and in our vlogs we have shared a few short clips of the other person, but it was never in a setting where it was obvious that we are dating. It was more in a _Henry is an idiot and somehow I’m the normal one of the two of us, constantly judging his antics, while we edit our videos_ -setting.

We walked Kal in secluded areas, so no one could recognize us. We were so careful.

But how did this leak? I didn’t tell my parents yet about us dating, so my dad couldn’t have spilled the details to his friends, how is this supposed to get out into the world? Out to TMZ and more? I feel so violated. It shows pictures of us in his backyard, my head placed on his shoulder, as we both read something. Pictures of us with Kal. Of us in his house, dancing, kissing, hugging, gaming, what not.

The article has been online since yesterday night and it’s now the following afternoon. I should really call Henry, because tomorrow he’ll leave for the shoots and there is still one thing I need to tell him.

_And that’s how much I love him._

It only rings once, before he picks up. ‘There you are, sweetheart,’ he says in a hasty voice. ‘Are you okay? Please talk to me, I need to hear your voice, I need to know how you are.’

‘Is it really not bad?’ I ask him in basically tiny font.

‘No, my Instagram is flooded with sweet comments.’

That surprises me. No woman thinking I should back off, because she thinks she’ll marry him? ‘Really?’

He chuckles. ‘Really, darling. I mean, you shouldn’t check it, because there are always idiots who will try to hurt our feelings, but I can tell that the majority is actually really happy that we are together. Some even suspected it, saying that I basically told the entire world when I kept staring at you and your lips and that my eyes turn into hearts whenever I look over at you.’

Though that’s insanely sweet, a sob still escapes and I place my hand over my mouth. ‘This is what I’ve been trying to prevent, Henry,’ I whimper. ‘In those years I’ve been on YouTube, I haven’t been involved in any scandals. Stuff doesn’t leak about my years prior to YouTube, simply because people barely knew I was in their class.’

‘This is not a scandal,’ he tells me. ‘I’m almost at your place, sweetheart.’

I stand up from my bed, still in my pajamas (that now mostly consists of his shirts) and I walk towards the window, to see if he is already there. ‘I’m scared.’

‘I know, Sandy. I know you’re scared and that’s totally understandable.’

I see him walking around the corner and he holds up his hand when he spots me. Even from this far, I can still see his beautiful smile on his face and it makes me want to cry even more. I quickly walk to the door, to press the button so the door downstairs opens for him. I hang up the phone, while I open my front door. Henry rushes towards me and when he’s close enough, he wraps his arms around my waist, carrying me inside. ‘I’m here,’ he whispers.

‘I’m scared, Henry,’ I admit. ‘I’m so scared. What are we going to do?’

‘First and foremost, I’m going to hug you and help to calm you down. Second, you and I should talk to both our managers and agents about this. Third, we are releasing a statement before I go off to Scotland tomorrow.’

He sits down on my bed and places me securely on his lap.

‘I’m glad you are here,’ I admit. ‘I’m scared of what will happen to us.’

‘Don’t be,’ he sternly tells me. ‘Nothing will happen to us.’

‘But what if it breaks us up?’

‘It won’t.’ He presses a few kisses on my cheeks, before placing his forehead against mine. ‘Sandy, please realize: we are stronger than this. We’ll just tell the world that we are dating. I wished of course, that we could go out with this on our own time, but we shouldn’t deny it. Especially not since those pictures are really telling.’

I nod. ‘I know.’

‘You looked beautiful in those picture by the way.’

I groan. ‘Stop.’

‘You’re smiling again and that is very important. I don’t like it when you’re sad.’ He chuckles, pats my thighs and hums in content, when I’m indeed smiling. ‘It’s okay to be scared,’ Henry whispers. ‘But remember that I’m right here by your side and will not let you go for a second.’

‘That’s not true and you know it. You’re leaving tomorrow.’

‘But it’s not tomorrow yet,’ he smiles. ‘This situation not at all bad. We are just two people who fell in love.’

‘But I fell for you,’ I say, ‘a very wanted bachelor. There are people who are not going to like this.’

‘There are always going to be people who will never like anything I do or you do for that matter. Though it’s ridiculous, not everyone likes your videos for example. The fact that we are dating, will not change, no matter what people think.’

I sigh deeply, as I melt against my broad boyfriend. ‘You’re not mad?’

‘Why would I be mad, sweetheart?’ he asks. ‘This is not your fault, nor will it ever be. And I know that it came out when we both didn’t want it to be out, but I have to admit: it feels good to not having to hide it anymore.’

‘But you’re leaving tomorrow,’ I pout.

‘I know, love.’ Henry wraps his arms tightly around me, giving me tons of kisses on my cheek. ‘But we’ll manage, I guarantee.’ He buries his face in my neck. ‘Are you feeling better?’

‘A bit.’

‘How about we call our managers? Best to get it over with quickly.’

‘Sure, let me get my phone.’ I point to the kitchen counter and when I have my device, I walk back to Henry. Before I can sit on my bed, right next to him, he pulls me back on his lap and he whispers: ‘Every second that we are together before I leave, you’ll sit right here.’

⟢⟡⟣

Henry invited Lacey and Jackson over to his place that night. We’re sitting on the couch, while Lacey has her phone in her hand. ‘I have to say, you guys, this is a decent statement.’

Henry wraps his arm tightly around my waist (he took his promise back at my apartment very serious, so I haven’t seated anywhere else expect his lap), as I stare at my own phone, seeing our statement. We (and our managers) wrote something along the lines of that we indeed started dating after working closely together creating his YouTube channel, but that we’d appreciated if people give us the privacy we need, since one) we haven’t been dating that long and 2) we’re not planning on making our love life really public any time soon.

‘Sucks that you have to leave now, though,’ Jackson says, absently placing his hand on Lacey’s leg. ‘Can’t you come with him, Sandy?’

‘Not yet,’ I answer. ‘I have some other things to do here, but maybe I can join him in about a month.’

Henry sighs deeply, placing his chin on my shoulder. ‘I’ll miss you a lot, though,’ he whispers, but loud enough for everyone to hear. 

I have been thinking about him being gone for such a long time and of course it saddens me but I knew that this was part of the deal. Henry is an actor and the fact that it’s in Scotland instead of LA for example, is already a bonus. He is only a few hours away with the car and I haven’t even checked the possibilities with public transportation yet. I curl up against his strong body. ‘I’ll miss you too.’

‘But it does mean that you can spend more time with me.’

We both stare at Lacey, before I stick out my tongue to her. That night, we play some Mario Kart (I obviously beat everyone, though I have to say: Henry is getting better and better), we talk a bit and the four of us walk with Kal, before Lacey and Jackson leave to—and I quote Lacey—have sex.

Henry’s in the kitchen, doing some of the dishes, as he insists I only sit on the counter and be pretty. ‘I’m really excited about this movie,’ he says. ‘I mean, it’s different from what I’ve been doing for awhile now. No action, only romance and drama. It’s quite weird actually.’ He has a sweet and nearly shy smile on his face as he admits: ‘I’m also really excited to work with Margot Robbie.’

I smile. ‘She’s amazing. I love her so much.’

He looks up. ‘I have to ask this and please don’t get me wrong okay?’

My brows furrow, when I see the worried look on his face. ‘Okay.’

‘Are you jealous?’

‘Why would you think I’m jealous?’

‘Because, there are some kissing and sex scenes in it.’

I shrug. ‘Henry, it’s part of your job. It’s just acting. Besides, I trust you and know how much you care about me. You’d never cheat on me, you are too kind and honest for that in the first place.’

He looks pained. ‘Sure?’

‘Why are you doubting me?’ I ask with a smile. ‘I would never lie to you about this.’

‘It’s just that my exes could get pretty jealous from time to time. It wasn’t always the main reason we broke up, but it was part of it.’

I sigh deeply. ‘Well, I think that when you start dating an actor, you should know that your man kissing someone else is part of your relationship. I trust you with all my heart, Henry. Is it a bit weird to realize that your man is kissing someone else and shooting a sex scene? Sure, but that doesn’t mean I would be jealous about it. I know you, I trust you and this movie is such a wonderful step for you to take.’

He leans in to give me a kiss. ‘I don’t think I deserve you,’ he tells me. ‘I honestly don’t think I do.’

I pull him between my legs. ‘You really need to do the dishes now?’

‘That can wait,’ he tells me, throwing me over his shoulder, causing me to squeal. He commands Kal to stay here, before he walks upstairs. ‘You have such a pretty butt,’ he says.

‘Shut up,’ I laugh.

He throws me on the bed, taking off his shirt. ‘I’m going to make sure you feel me for days,’ he tells me. ‘Just say our safe word when you want me to stop, okay?’

I nod. ‘Okay.’

⟢⟡⟣

 **Dad:** Honeybee, I still can’t believe you are dating Clark Kent and you didn’t tell me?

 **Sandy:** Dad, this is your own fault.

 **Sandy:** You and your pokerbuddies are even worse than the stereotypical groups of housewives.

 **Sandy:** Had I told you, it would’ve gone public two months ago.

 **Dad:** YOU HAVE BEEN DATING CLARK KENT FOR TWO MONTHS AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME OR YOUR MOTHER?

 **Dad:** 😱😱😱

 **Dad:** That’s it, you are coming back home, young lady. The UK has made you insanely secretive.

 **Sandy:** Omg, dad, please.

 **Dad:** Honeybee, I want to speak to Clark. He needs to pass my boyfriend test for my lovely and only daughter. Give me his number.

 **Sandy:** His name is HENRY CAVILL!

 **Sandy:** Not Clark Kent

 **Dad:** But I liked him in Man of Steel.

Henry’s bags are all packed and ready to be loaded into the cab that could arrive here any second now. I’m sitting on the couch with Kal, stroking his thick fur. Henry told me that he’d normally drop Kal off at one of his brothers or Jackson, but right now he wanted his trusted friend to stay behind with me. He even said that he liked having me over at his place, because the thought of having me here instead of going back to my own apartment with those creepy stairs, calms him down.

‘Okay, love, remember,’ he says, ‘the door in the back won’t close if you just pull it, so you need to use all of your strength. My brothers and Jackson have a spare key, so if you need that, just call one of them. I also gave you the numbers of my family, haven’t I?’

‘You have, Henry,’ I chuckle, though I know that I won’t be calling any of them. I haven’t even met them yet, they didn’t know about our relationship either, until yesterday. I know for a fact that the only one that I’ll call when I locked myself out, is going to be Jackson.

I push myself off the couch and walk up to him, a throbbing and dull pain noticeable between my legs. A gentle reminder of what we did last night and this morning. He kept his promise, because I know that I’ll feel him for days.

He must’ve noticed it too, because he walks up to me, meeting me halfway. ‘You okay, love?’ he asks, cocking an eyebrow.

I roll my eyes. ‘I’m fine.’

With a grin plastered on his face, he lifts me up as I carefully wrap my legs around his waist, a soft whimper leaving my lips. ‘I’m gonna miss you so much, sweetheart,’ he whispers.

‘I’m going to miss you too.’

He looks so worried and it pains me to see him like this. This morning he told me about his fear of not being able to see me daily, not being able to physically turning to me for help, not being able to hold me. After what happened the day before yesterday, he was scared of leaving me by myself. To be fair, I think it was the cutest thing ever, to see him like this. Not because I like seeing him a bit in distress, but I like that I can tell that I mean a lot to him.

He didn’t know I heard him, but when Jackson and Lacey were here, I heard him asking them if they could watch out for me, check in with me daily. For a second I thought it was controlling, but then I realized that I can worry people. My dad texts me stupid stuff every day, just to get a reaction out of me, so he knows I’m okay. Lacey used to check in with me, when she hadn’t heard from me in days. I can easily stop talking to people for days and I know that isn’t necessarily healthy. Knowing that Henry wants to take good care of me, even when he is away, makes me feel so loved.

‘Henry, I have to tell you something,’ I say.

I can see everything flashing through his eyes in a matter of a few seconds and I burst out into laughter.

‘No, I don’t want to break up with you. No, I can’t go with you yet. And no, I’m not pregnant.’

He lets out a nervous chuckle. ‘I’m sorry,’ he laughs. ‘What do you want to tell me then?’

‘I love you. Very very much. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me and I’ve been wanting to tell you this for such a long time, but I didn’t know how and I was scared. Now you are leaving and I felt like I needed to tell you.’

‘I love you too, Sandy,’ he whispers and I let out a sigh of relief. ‘God, I was afraid of telling you how I felt too for such a long time.’ He blinks a few times and I see his eyes are filling with tears. ‘This is what I wanted. A life like this. Someone who loved me for me and who I am deep down. Someone who fits into my life, like that missing piece of a puzzle.’

I press a kiss on his forehead. ‘Don’t cry,’ I say.

‘I’m not crying. Slightly emotional is as far as this goes,’ he quickly defends himself.

‘You are too romantic.’

‘Well, I’d say you are pretty romantic too,’ he laughs. ‘And you went from a woman too afraid to hold my hand, to kiss me and wanting to take it slow, to be the first to admit that you love me.’

‘That’s what I call a glow up,’ I chuckle.

Henry hugs me close to his strong figure, before he says: ‘Darling, I’m sorry, but I have to leave now.’

With Kal I watch him helping the cab driver with putting the bags in the trunk. He tells the chauffeur to wait, before he walks back to us. He scratches Kal behind his ear. ‘Be good to Sandy, okay?’ he tells his furry companion. ‘No chasing cats, no barking back at her and listen well to her.’ He gives the big bear a kiss, followed by a few more.

‘I’m going to miss you, sweetheart,’ he whispers, as he pulls me into his safe arms for the last time. ‘I’ll call you every day and we keep on texting. After that one month, you should definitely come over, because I need to see you.’

‘I love you, Cavill.’

‘I love you more, Choi.’

‘Impossible.’

Somehow he manages to tear himself from me and while he walks off the cab, I crouch down next to the bear, who whines, seeing his boss getting in. ‘I know, baby,’ I say to him, ‘but he’ll FaceTime with you every single day. I’ll make sure that’ll happen.’

I blow him multiple kisses and wave at him, when the car takes off. He keeps on waving at us before we can’t see him anymore. ‘Come on, let’s go inside,’ I say to Kal and when we’re inside, I hear an incoming message.

 **Henry** 💖 **:** I miss you already.

He is such a dork.

 **Sandy:** I miss you too.

 **Henry** 💖 **:** Give Kal a kiss from me, okay? The first days are always pretty hard on him.

 **Sandy:** Will do 😘


	14. Chapter 14

Henry enjoys his time on the movie set. It feels good to be back here, to be surrounded by a cast and crew. Four long days pass, filled with table reads, checking out the costumes and sets and having tons of meetings. He loves hanging out with his fellow cast members, Margot Robbie being even more amazing in real life, but he misses his lovely girlfriend every single day and it only grows even more with every passing second.

Every cell inside Henry’s body told him not to leave after the news of them dating broke out. He wanted to be there for her, to listen to her worries and her fears. When he sees her tearing up when they FaceTime, it breaks his heart. He told her every time before they hung up, that she should come over, but she keeps saying no. He knew that that would happen.

After a day that consisted of table reads, he is finally back in his room. He plops on his bed with his iPad in hand. Sandy posted a new video today, a vlog taken about three days ago. Though it has been uploaded for a good three hours, he just hadn’t had the time to watch it yet.

He watches intently as her intro plays, little snippets of her day, a lot involving Kal. It’s nice to see how well they actually get along. Sure he was nice and friendly towards other people, but he is always very focused on Henry.

That completely changes when Sandy is around. Kal can sometimes completely ignore Henry, simply because he is too busy looking at Sandy.

The vlog starts, with Sandy sitting on his couch, combing through Kal’s thick fur, as he sits in front of her. ‘So for at least this upcoming month, I’m baby sitting Kal,’ Sandy says with a big smile on his face. ‘I’m very excited to watch him, because he is my sweet baby and I love having him around, however I’m also a bit scared, since he loves chasing cats and I’m not as strong as his real owner.’

Even an indirect compliment like this, makes him buff out his chest and beam with pride. God, he really misses her.

Sandy does her make-up and leaves her hair a bit messy, something that is giving him some very nice daydreams about their times in bed. She changed into a lovely pair of tight fitted jeans with a thin sweater on top of it. She walks with Kal to the park and forbids him to jump into the water.

Somehow she manages to succeed and Henry is impressed with his lovely girlfriend.

From the looks of it, it’s a very chill day, but he simply wishes that he was there with her. He watches her play some Animal Crossing, working on her book and telling the viewers about an interesting sponsorship that she’s really excited about, while she cooks something. From the looks of it, she’s making some sort of pasta and his stomach almost growls as a response.

He misses her cooking.

‘After I posted that Instagram story a day ago of me hugging Kal,’ Sandy says, as she fills her plate with pasta, ‘a lot of you have been asking me whether or not I’m with Henry in Scotland, since he is filming his newest movie there. Well, I’m not, I’m actually staying at his place for awhile, because my landlord doesn’t allow pets in his building.’ She grabs some utensils and adds: ‘Henry is really excited for this movie and to be honest, it’s such a well written script. The direct is fantastic, Margot Robbie is freakishly talented so mark my words: this movie will be a hit.’

Henry wishes they were together now, so he could wrap his arms around her waist, while she was cooking, kissing her endlessly and when they are going to eat, she’s sitting on his lap, feeding him, since he likes to be babied by her from time to time.

‘I think I’m going to Scotland in about a month, so there will be no snippets of Henry in my future videos, just his house and his angel dog. Also, expect his videos to be a little less amazing, since I’m not with him to save his abysmal ass for lousy editing.’ She looks in the camera and winks, as if she wants him to know that she’s just joking.

Henry can’t stop laughing. After they started dating, she even became more relaxed in her own videos. It’s weird to think that she was tense and nervous all the time, while he thought her videos were calming. She just hid it too damn well, but now, he can see a definite change in demeanor with her.

Sandy is now sitting at the table, her heels planted on the chair. ‘Also, I got another question from someone, who asked if I would ever be into writing a script for a movie and if so, would I ever want to work with Henry?’ She plays a bit with her food and says: ‘I actually took multiple screenwriting classes back at UCLA and I enjoyed myself, so it’s always a dream of mine. I do have to add, that the chances of me actually be part of a movie ever, are pretty slim. If I do happen to get a chance to work with writing a script, I’d love to work with Henry. We work together pretty well, so I don’t think it would be weird.’

His phone rings and he pauses the video on his iPad. When he glances at the screen, he sees it’s Jackson. ‘Hi man, what’s up?’ Henry asks when he picks up.

‘It’s Lacey,’ he hears the desperate voice of Jacksons girlfriend, something he isn’t used to hearing. ‘Have you seen the news?’

‘No, I haven’t. I’ve been working all day. What news?’

‘It’s about Sandy.’

He nearly throws his iPad away, as he sits up straight. ‘Is she okay?’ he asks, thinking about all the things that could’ve happened to his girlfriend. What if she broke her leg? What if Kal dragged her across the street?

‘Henry,’ Lacey says, before letting out a sigh, ‘it’s terrible. It just leaked and she won’t open the door. Jackson will be here any minute to let us in.’ He hears her banging a door, probably his own front door, while she adds: ‘Her entire Instagram is flooded with comments, nasty ones mostly.’

‘Lacey, tell me. What the hell is it that got leaked?’ he nearly yells, becoming insanely impatient.

‘Her ex boyfriend Danny leaked pictures of her,’ Lacey whispers. ‘ _Private_ pictures.’

⟢⟡⟣

Henry arrives at his own place six hours later. He parks the rental car in front of his house, before he rushes in. He has been angry the entire time since Lacey told him about it.

He didn’t want to see the pictures, but his Instagram was flooded with them. People kept tagging him in those, send him DM’s.

Henry can’t believe that that son of a bitch Danny leaked those pictures. The fact that he kept those pictures, years after they broke up, is infuriating as it is, but from the looks of at least a few photos, Sandy doesn’t know they were taken. She looks hungover most of the times.

And that is what pisses him off the most. Sandy was taken advantage of by a prick like him.

Henry hears her crying when he enters his own residence and his heart breaks into millions of pieces when he steps into the living room, seeing his girl crying on the couch. Kal sits in front of her and he only looks over his shoulder to check who just walked in. Lacey and Jackson are sitting next to her, both on one side and Lacey’s arms are wrapped around her shaking friend.

Jackson stands up and ushers Henry to sit where he just sat. Henry quickly sits down and wraps his arms around Sandy, as Lacey stands up and walks to the kitchen. ‘I’m here, sweetheart, I’m here,’ he whispers.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Sandy cries.

Tears burn in his eyes, when he hears her like this, when he sees her like this. No one deserves this, but if there is one person in the world who truly doesn’t deserve this, it’s Sandy Choi.

His Sandy Choi.

‘There is nothing to be sorry about,’ he tells her.

She pushes him off of her, something he didn’t expect at all. ‘Of course there is,’ she says in a harsh tone, her eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying. God, he wonders how long she has been crying already. ‘I ruined your reputation, Henry.’

He blinks his eyes a few times out of disbelieve. That’s what she’s worried about? _His_ reputation? ‘What?’ he asks. ‘My reputation? Sweetheart, that’s not at all what’s important here and that’s certainly not something to apologize for.’

Lacey decides to interfere and Henry is grateful for that. ‘We already went to the police,’ she says with a plate in her hand. ‘And they are doing everything they can, but because Sandy and Danny are both US citizens, it takes some time.’

Sandy shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry.’ She sounds so weak and exhausted from all the crying. She sighs deeply. ‘I’m so sorry, Henry. I don’t know what I should do anymore.’

‘We’ll figure something out,’ he says. ‘We’ll get through this, sweetheart.’

She quickly blinks her eyes, trying to prevent herself from crying again. Her nails bore into the palm of her hand. ‘I’m tired, Henry.’

‘I know,’ he says. ‘I know you are.’ He slowly approaches her, careful not to scare her off. ‘And that’s okay.’

She leans into his touch, before she cries again. Henry lets out a long sigh. If he could, he’d swim to LA, look for Danny and murder him with his bare hands. He looks at Lacey and Jackson, who both look defeated.

‘Maybe you should eat something,’ Lacey says. ‘I warmed up some left overs.’

‘It’s been quite a while since you eaten,’ Jackson adds.

Lacey places a bowl in front of her, but Sandy can’t seem to bring the spoon to her lips. Henry lifts her up on his lap. He feeds her some bites, but she seems too tired to even eat.

‘You know,’ Sandy says, ‘I didn’t even know Danny and his friends took those photos. I didn’t even know that during sex he made those pictures. I didn’t know that he would undress me when I was drunk, so he could snap some shots of me. I didn’t know his friends did it too.’

Henry closes his eyes, his blood sprinting through his veins.

‘I’m so stupid. How did I not know?’

‘You are not stupid,’ Lacey says, before Henry even gets the chance to open his mouth. ‘For fuck’s sake, you are not stupid. The only stupid prick around here is him and all his friends.’

‘Lacey,’ Jackson says, but she won’t listen.

‘Don’t you fucking dare to think you are stupid, Sandy,’ she continues. ‘You are by far the most amazing woman I’ve ever met and you will grow from this. You are allowed to be sad, to be distraught and everything, but at some point, you’ll gain strength and the anger to make sure that he gets what he deserves.’

⟢⟡⟣

Sandy wants to be left alone. Through video calling Henry joins the table reads and every three hours he checks in with a message, to see how his girlfriend doing. While he wants to be held when something happens in his life, that he can compare to this, she wants to be alone. He may not understand it, but he’ll respect it.

The days are passing by slowly and it has been five days since the pictures leaked. She (and her management) released a statement, saying that legal steps will be taken, not only to her ex-boyfriend and his friends, but also to everyone who continues to spread these pictures.

During his walk with Kal, he calls Sandy, hoping she’d pick up. To his surprise, she does. ‘Hi sweetheart,’ he says.

‘Hi,’ he hears her voice. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I am, just walking Kal. How are you?’

‘I’m okay,’ she answers. ‘Just tired, that’s all.’

‘Right.’ He continues to talk about his day, the table reads and some other stuff, hoping he can distract her, even if it’s for a short amount of time. ‘You haven’t been reading anything online, have you?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ she says.

‘Will I see you tomorrow?’

Sandy sighs. ‘I don’t know. I still have to think about a lot.’

‘I understand,’ he says. ‘Just remember, sweetheart, I’m here for you. Lacey and Jackson are here for you and we want to help you, okay?’

‘I know.’

They hang up not long after and Henry continues to go on with his day. He cleans up a bit, he calls with the director, he calls with Margot, who is an absolute angel about the entire situation, saying that he needs to be there for his girlfriend and that the movie can wait for a while.

After his final check ups with Sandy, he drifts off to sleep. He dreams about a life where Danny isn’t ruining it all. A life where that son of a bitch doesn’t even exist really. She would join him in Scotland, where they would’ve rented a house, so Kal could stay with them too.

He’d wake up to her every single morning, she would be dressed in just his shirt or nothing at all and they’d make love. He would make breakfast for her, bring it to her in bed and Kal would join them on top of the blankets. She was happy, like how she was a little over a week ago. He wants her to sit on his lap again. He wants to see her smile. He wants to hear her laugh. He wants to watch her dance. The things that they did that made them happy as a couple.

For fuck’s sake, why does Danny Hensen have to ruin everything? God, he hates that prick.

Kal jumps on the bed the next morning, waking Henry up in the process. ‘Hi buddy,’ he says with raspy morning voice from just waking up. He sees something between Kal’s teeth. ‘What’s that?’

Kal drops something white on the sheets and he recognizes Sandy’s handwriting immediately. Maybe she wrote down how she feels, he thinks to himself. She is a writer after all. He opens the envelope and stares at the letter.

_Dear Henry,_

_I’m sorry for everything. For those pictures being leaked, for ruining your reputation and for being a coward, since I’m doing this through a letter. I think it shows yet again why you are way out of my league anyway._

_I’m breaking up with you._

_Not because I don’t love you anymore, not because I feel like I deserve better, but because you do. You deserve better. You deserve someone who is squeaky clean, so you can start a happy and peaceful life together._

_And that woman simply can’t be me. Not after everything that happened. I don’t want to further damage your reputation, more than I already done._

_I love you a lot, Henry Cavill and that’ll never ever change. You taught me so much and I’ll forever carry those lessons, your wisdom with me._

_But it’s for the best that we break up._

_Lots of love,_

_Sandy Choi_


	15. Chapter 15

All the arrangements are made and I’m ready to go. My alarm goes off at three in the early morning, but it was useless anyway, since I couldn’t sleep at all. I get up out of bed, throw on some clothes and start to carry the last few boxes into the van I rented. It still daunts me that I have to drive that thing for nearly two hours and I keep thinking about the chance that I might die whilst driving this enormous thing.

After everything is officially inside the van, I stare at my empty apartment. It’s weird seeing it empty, except the letter that I hope Lacey will find. A lot of memories happened right here. For nine, almost ten months this place gave me peace, gave me quiet and was there for me.

I grab my two bags and close the door of my apartment behind me, before I place my key inside my mailbox downstairs.

This is it, I think to myself. This is the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.

I get into to the van, my heart heavy of what I’m about to do. I look through my bag and when I hold the envelope, I stare at the white surface, Henry’s name scribbled down on it.

Am I really going to break up with Henry through a letter?

Yes, that is exactly what I’m going to do.

I hate myself.

Oh, I fucking hate myself, but honestly, it’s for the best. Being stuck with me, isn’t fair to him. He has been nothing but angel during this entire situation. He made sure he checked on me every few hours, made sure I ate enough and didn’t beat myself up about it.

But at what cost? His movie, his reputation and that is his job. He claims he loves me and only wants me, but one day he might realize I’m not right for him and then he has done all those things.

And that’s why I need to end it now, before it’s too late.

After I took at least four minutes to watch my breathing so I calm down a bit, I start the van and drive away, all the way to his place.

When I park in front of Henry’s house, I let out a deep sigh. This letter, I know it’ll break him, but it’s for the best that he breaks now, instead of in two months, in a year. I want to spare him that. I know what he wants, he even told me multiple times.

He wants someone to spend the rest of his life with, to be happy and grow old with. How can one do that, when the one on your side is me? The girl with the naked pictures everywhere?

I shake my head, before I get out the van and quickly run to the door. I hear the letter fall on the hard wooden floor on the other side.

That’s it. No turning back.

During my two hour drive, I try to think about everything that has happened. I haven’t been on Instagram or YouTube in those five days since the pictures got leaked. I deactivated my accounts, my hard work suddenly unable to find for people. Instead, I spend looking at apartments, little houses, hoping to find something that I liked, something that I could renovate and make my own. I don’t want to go back to the US, I want to stay here.

And finally I found a lovely house in an adorable village. After some research, I found out that the town was filled with people who are retired and probably with one foot in their coffins already.

So why on earth did that sound appealing?

It didn’t take a long time to come up with the endless possibilities I had there. They were retirees, who had tons of experiences with rebuilding houses and could help me out. There is a 99.9% chance no one would know about me, about the pictures and if I stayed silent about it, they’ll never know.

My eyes hurt from holding back my tears, when I think about Henry for a little bit too long. I have to park the van and I do so at a gas station. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I cry out, to no one in particular really. ‘Why is this happening to me? I’m sort of a good person. I worked hard for the life I have now. Why would he do something like that to me? After all those years?’

If there is someone I hate even more than I hate myself at the moment, it’s Danny. Those pictures, they run through my mind every single day. I think about them when I sleep, when I cook, when I clean.

I don’t understand why he had to make those pictures public. I don’t understand in the first place why he’d even make those pictures.

I take a deep breath and start the van again, once I’m done crying. I drive away, to my new destination.

My new home.

And that involves no Jackson, no Lacey and certainly no Kal and Henry, because I don’t think I can handle that.

⟢⟡⟣

At around seven in the morning I arrive at my new home. It’s a small house in a lovely shade of pink, surrounded by lots of land, perfect for all the animals I plan to adopt. I know deep down that I should tell someone about where I’m living now, but part of me is still scared of their reaction, so I turn off my phone so I don’t have to face the consequences of my own actions.

Yet.

It’s for the best, Henry will realize that sooner or later. I know that and if I keep telling myself that, I bet I’ll truly believe it sooner or later.

If he truly loves me, he’ll understand that what I’m doing, is for the best.

I get out of the van and with the keys to the house I walk to the front door, to open it up. After a quick scan through my new house and realizing this is what I wanted, what I signed up for, what I paid for, I start unloading a few things that are truly important. Parts of my bed, some of my kitchen stuff (kettle, my espresso machine and a mini fridge) and a chair, so I can sit if I need to take a breather.

I have been thinking about renovating this place, but I also have been thinking about filming it. You can take the girl off of YouTube, but you’ll never get the YouTube out of the girl. I have to film this, I have to make a memory out of it.

I have to romanticize it.

I check the opening times of certain stores and the hardware store is open at eight. It’s about a five minute walk, so I quickly change into something comfortable, before I walk towards the shop.

I arrive at around eight fifteen and I’m the first one there.

The man who owns the store, is old—surprise surprise—with a white beard like Santa Clause, but with no hair on top of his head. ‘Good morning,’ he says to me, ‘how can I help you?’

‘I’m looking for some stuff,’ I say, walking up to the counter, while looking around the store. ‘I’m looking for wallpaper, paint and some tools.’

‘Sure thing, but I have to ask this,’ he starts. Let me guess: _What is a young woman like you doing in this town?_ ‘What is a young woman like you doing in this town?’

If this YouTube thing doesn’t work out anymore, I could always become a fortune teller.

‘Guess I’m just an old soul,’ I tell him, for the first time glancing up to him. I sure hope that he doesn’t recognize me. ‘I bought that pink house down the road.’

‘Really?’ He chuckles. ‘I heard someone bought it, just didn’t know that a young lady like you did. Why are you here?’

I shrug. ‘Just looking for something new. A new adventure.’

The man introduces himself as Evan and he is a great help. He helps me with choosing the right glue for the wallpaper, helps me to get the right tools and when he realizes it’s really heavy, he insists that his son, who is over fifty and probably the youngest here, delivers it to my place.

When I arrive back to my place, I only have to wait five minutes, before Evan’s son, whose name is AJ, drops it off. He looks like his dad, only his beard is still brownish and the hair on top of his head (it’s not much, but worth mentioning) also has his color.

I don’t know how long I’m working, how long I’m painting, putting up wallpaper, but I don’t think about that terrible thing that happened.

I don’t think about Danny.

I don’t think about my parents and Lacey and Jackson, who wonder if I’m okay.

I don’t think about Henry, how I left him behind, with only a letter.

⟢⟡⟣

The next day at eight in the morning is the first moment that I check my phone and I have tons of missed messages and missed calls. I almost feel guilty.

 **Henry** 💖 **:** Baby, you have to tell me where you are. I’m not believing that you broke up with me, I’m not believing that you vanished.

 **Henry** 💖 **:** I’m worried, please, just tell me where you are.

 **Henry** 💖 **:** Remember sweetheart, I love you. I love you with all my heart and you know that. I don’t know what I did wrong that gave you the impression that breaking up was the best for me, for you, for us. Please call me or text me to say that you are okay.

 **Lacey Gracey:** Excuse me, woman, why did you just leave like that? Henry is a fucking mess and I’m worried as hell. I went to your fucking apartment and you are not there? You just left a note that you want to be left alone. Are you kidding me?

 **Jackson:** I know I don’t text you a lot, but I’m worried about you, Sandy. I’m worried about what Henry will do. Please, just call one of us.

 **Dad:** So, Clark Kent called me. We are worried about you. Please, let anyone know that you are alright. Okay honeybee?

 **Mom:** I know you have mastered the profession of runaway, but call someone, doesn’t matter who, to tell them you are okay and where you are. Oh, and take your cod liver oil. You might be running away, but you still need your vitamin D intake.

And those are only the messages I received yesterday in the morning. There are tons of those waiting for me. I call my voicemail.

‘You have fifty new messages,’ the robotic voice of the woman tells me. ‘Message one.’

_Beep._

‘Sweetheart, it’s me, Henry. I’m so worried about you. I already called your parents, but they don’t know where you are either. Please, I’m begging you, tell me where you are, so we can talk about this. Because I refuse to believe that breaking up with you, that breaking us up, is the best decision. I simply refuse to.’ I can hear him swallowing hard on the other end of the line. ‘I miss you,’ he whispers, his voice desperate and cracking. ‘God, I miss you so much and I need to know you are okay. I need you to know that I love you so much and being with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me, darling. Sandy, call me back or someone else. We have to know you are okay.’

I hang up the phone, though there are forty nine other messages left to be listened to. My tears spill over my cheeks, as I let out a soft sob. I almost cave, I almost call him back, but I don’t. I can’t.

Instead I dial Lacey’s number and she picks up almost immediately. ‘What the fuck, Sandy?’

‘Hi,’ I mumble, wiping away some left over tears.

‘No, don’t just hi me, we have all been worried sick.’

‘Where are you?’

‘I’m doing doing some groceries, but don’t give me that. _Where_ are you?’

I get that she’s angry, I totally understand. She was the sweetest when it first got leaked. She hugged me, she cared for me and has been doing so for such a long time now. Since the moment I got onto that plane back to London, the two of us were best friends. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Cut the crap, Sandy, where are you?’

‘I’m okay.’

‘That’s not what I asked, damnit.’ No matter where she is, she’ll find out what is happening to the people she cares about, even if that’s in the middle of the fruit aisle. ‘I honestly don’t even care if you are okay, I want to know where you are, so I can visit you and kick your ass, before I drag you by your hair to your boyfriend, so you can explain to him what you did.’

‘He is not my boyfriend anymore,’ I weakly state.

‘Well, I call bullshit on that one. He is your boyfriend and he’ll stay your boyfriend till the day one of you dies. You breaking up with him through a fucking letter, doesn’t count.’

‘I can’t do this,’ I say, really wanting to hang up now.

Lacey sighs deeply. ‘You know he’s a mess,’ she says, her tone not as harsh anymore.

‘Really?’

‘Don’t act surprised. He feels terrible. He hasn’t stopped pacing around his place. Jackson is going out with Kal, because he can’t seem to focus on anything but rereading your letter and rewatching footage of the two of you that he didn’t put in his vlogs.’

‘It only has been two days.’

‘God, I don’t even know who you are anymore. He loves you, you idiot.’ Harsh Lacey is back again with us. ‘You know, you have to call him.’

I decide to ignore her. ‘I’m okay,’ I whisper, ‘I’m surrounded by people who don’t know who I am, who are nice and all. Just tell my parents I’m okay, please.’

And then I hang up.

I can’t talk to her.

⟢⟡⟣

When I first met Danny, it was back at UCLA. I was studying in the library and he came into the quiet and peaceful space, a little too loud, causing people to look up and some even hushed.

He looked like the kind of guy that didn’t care about such thing. He just had this big grin on his face, while he looked at everyone sitting at the big table. His eyes fell on me and I remember his tongue wetting his bottom lip, before he smirked at me.

I quickly turned away and didn’t think about him anymore.

But I was in the library every day and all of the sudden, Danny and his loud entrance, became just Danny entering the library, sitting a few feet from me. Every day the distance between us would become smaller and smaller, until he sat next to me.

‘So,’ he said, ‘what’s your name?’

‘Sandy,’ I answered in a low voice.

‘Nice to meet you, Sandy. I’m Danny.’ He asked about what my major was, how long I had left, all in a hushed tone, so others wouldn’t be disturbed. It took me a few questions, before I could relax around him. He had this calming vibe over him, something that I could noticeably feel.

He asked if I was here a lot and when I admitted I was, he took out his laptop and declared us library buddies. Afterwards, he’d walk me to my dorm, since it was getting colder and darker earlier in the evening. Danny was everything I wanted in a boyfriend. He was kind, he was smart and he was patient.

For the first six months of him being my boyfriend, I was the happiest I’ve ever been. He would have his hand on my lower back whenever I felt uncomfortable. He noticed that. He always knew when I would nearly throw up out of pure anxiety, so Danny would grab my hand and pull me aside. ‘Breath with me, baby,’ he’d say to me. When I calmed down, he pulled me into a tight hug and press kisses on my forehead, telling me how proud he was of me.

I don’t know what changed. Was it me? Was it him? Were it his friends? I don’t understand how he went from the sweetest guy on earth, who was so thoughtful the first time we kissed, we had sex, to a guy that made pictures of me during sex, after he got me totally drunk, who told me I’d tasted horribly and who would place his hand on the back of my head, forcing me to take him deeper, while I couldn’t.

After I gained the courage to break up with him, I realized that I’d probably never date again.

But then I met Henry, years later. Henry has been nothing but a dream boyfriend. When I thought Danny knew me, Henry is miles ahead of him. Henry knows me like the back of his hand.

Henry is always thoughtful. He wants me close to him, he isn’t embarrassed to show our friends how much he loved me and when I enter the room, his eyes are glued on me and a smile so bright appears on his face.

I have my phone in my hands, while I scroll through all the pictures and videos I have of him and us. I click on a video that I was taking for a vlog, but never posted. I’m on the couch, talking about a few things I did that day, but he interrupted me, by sliding onto the couch and place his head on my chest, before cuddling his broad frame against mine. ‘What are you doing?’ I ask him, stroking through his hair.

‘I just want to cuddle with you, sweetheart,’ I hear him say, pressing kisses against my collarbone. ‘I’m not hurting you, am I?’

‘No, you’re not.’

The clip stops and I sigh deeply. I miss him. I miss his touch. I’m tempted to answer some of his texts, but while my fingers hover over the touchscreen, I shake my head. I can’t do it. I can’t text him.

Not right now.

I have to be strong for the both of us.


	16. Chapter 16

‘Henry, you need to stop pacing for a minute, take a deep breath and calm down,’ Jackson tells him, before he shoves his best friend on the couch. ‘Listen to me, I get that you are sad and angry, but you need to calm the fuck down.’

‘I fucking can’t,’ Henry hisses.

It has been two days. Two whole days of her not around. Two whole days of not being able to talk to her. Henry doesn’t now if he is angry, sad or simply disappointed in her. He feels his lungs tighten and he curses himself. This is not the timing for hyperventilating.

Jackson snaps his fingers in front of his eyes, crouching down in front of Henry. He takes ahold of Henry’s hand and places it on his own chest. ‘Feel my heartbeat,’ Jackson says, ‘and breath with me.’

Henry doesn’t know how long it takes before his breathing is normalized, but thank God his friend is here with him, thank God Kal has placed his head in the crook of Henry’s neck and thank God there are other people than Sandy that can calm him down, since she’s not around now. ‘I miss her,’ Henry admits. ‘Fuck I miss her so badly.’

‘I know you do and we’ll find her, I promise you.’

The front door slams shut and Lacey barges in, grocery bags in her hand. ‘Sandy called me,’ she announces when she walks into the living room.

For a split second Henry is disappointed, because Sandy didn’t call him, but it is something that Lacey called her. Besides, maybe she told her friend where she is.

‘And?’ Jackson asks, when it’s obvious Henry can’t find the right words to say.

‘She sounded terrible, though she kept trying to convince me she’s okay. She didn’t tell me where she is, but she did tell me one thing: she’s surrounded by people who don’t know who she is, who are nice and all.’

‘What does that even mean?’ Jackson asks visibly confused.

‘I was thinking about that. Surrounded by people who don’t know who she is… She has five million subscribers and was known to be your girlfriend. What does that tell us?’

‘Nothing?’ Jackson frowns deeply. ‘Sweetie, I don’t understand.’

‘The demography of the people that watch her are teens, college people and people in their thirties, right? People who watch the movies Henry is in, are probably between teens and people who are like in their sixties.’

Henry finally catches up. ‘Being surrounded by people who don’t know who she is and who are nice and all,’ he says, ‘so that means she must be surrounded by people over the retirement age.’

‘Exactly.’ Lacey snaps her fingers. ‘So she must be in that village two hours from here, where those old people live.’

Henry knows exactly where that is, so he stands up from the couch and starts to collect the things he needs to bring with him.

‘You’re going to find her?’ Lacey asks.

‘Of course. Kal, come here buddy.’ He puts the leash on the dog, after he packed a bag. ‘I need to talk to her and to see her.’

‘Be kind.’

That stops him in his tracks. ‘What?’ he asks.

‘Be kind,’ she repeats. ‘I know her, she is doing this because she is terrified. If you yell at her or be mad at her, like I did, she’ll probably shut down. I’m telling you, be kind to her.’

Of course he wants to be kind to her, she’s his girlfriend for crying out loud and he loves her very much, but she hurt him and she hurt him badly. He needs to talk some sense into her, doesn’t he?

When Henry and Kal are in the car, he keeps thinking about what he’ll do when he sees her. Will he hug her? Will she allow that? Is there a possibility he’ll explode out of anger?

She must’ve had a reason for this?

He keeps thinking about the things she told him, the things she did. The first time he tried to kiss her, she backed off and rushed inside. It took her a long time before she was able to open up to him, show him her dancing and tell him about what she was thinking, how she was feeling.

But that all had changed, since their first kiss, since their first time. They had been such a domestic couple for these weeks that they had spend together. It felt so right. The fact that she barely spend time back in her own apartment, how she sat on his lap all the time and how she let him hug her from behind while she was cooking. She said I love you first, she was the one that took that step, one that he was afraid to take.

And then Danny Hensen swooped in and ruined all that. All that they worked hard for.

Fuck…

He looks to his side, to Kal. Since Sandy had left his place, Kal hadn’t been the same happy dog he was. He almost looks too tired to walk around the block, he doesn’t wag his tail anymore and he has collected some of the stuff of hers that was sprawled out in his apartment, dug his nose in it and fell asleep like that.

He thought that Kal missed Sandy more than Henry did, though that is nearly impossible. ‘We’re going to see if we can find Sandy today, bud,’ Henry says, running his fingers through Kal’s thick fur. ‘I sure hope we do.’

Kal whines.

‘I know, I miss her too. Hopefully I’ll win her back today and I bet you can help me with that. Just be your usual cute self, okay?’

⟢⟡⟣

Henry parks his car and lets Kal out. He holds the leash tightly in his hand, as he strolls off the long road. He sees sweet looking houses everywhere and if he was over sixty, he’d want live here. Plenty of room for eventual grandkids, more dogs and animals that he always wanted.

He greets some women, who all start to giggle, probably because Henry is the only guy under sixty that ever walks around here.

His eye lands on an adorable pink house, where a guy who almost looks like Santa Claus exists the front door. ‘So miss Choi,’ he hears the man say, ‘I’ll be back tomorrow.’

Miss Choi. Is that _his_ miss Choi?

‘Thank you, Evan.’ Sandy has a bucket in her hand and a cloth thrown over her shoulder. ‘You are an absolute angel, has anyone told you that?’

“Evan” starts to laugh. ‘The last one who called me an angel was my wife, and that was before I knocked her up.’

It’s Sandy’s turn to chuckle. ‘See you tomorrow, Evan.’

‘Till tomorrow, miss Choi.’ The man walks off her path and disappears after he turned left pretty quickly. Sandy hasn’t spotted Henry yet.

Her long luscious locks are in a messy ponytail, her bangs and strands of hair framing her face. She starts to clean the doorframe, but even doing such a simple task, he almost falls in love with her all over again.

His enormous dog pulls on the leash, letting out a soft whine as he probably seen and smelled Sandy. ‘Kal, stay,’ Henry mutters, but he is too mesmerized by his lovely girlfriend to actually mean it. She looks content, she looks peaceful.

_Was it for the best that they broke up?_

Should Henry turn around and leave her?

Kal manages to break free and rushes over to her. He lets out an excited bark, causing her to look up. ‘Kal?’ he hears her ask. ‘Oh my God, baby, what are you doing here?’ She crouches down in front of him and wraps her arms around the large frame of the dog. He wags his tail in excitement, placing his head on her shoulder.

Slowly but surely, Henry approaches to two of them. She looks up with those beautiful eyes of hers and stands up. ‘Hi,’ she says.

‘Hi Sandy,’ he manages to choke out. All he wants to do, is fall on his knees in front of her, wrapping his arms around her hips and burying his face in her sweater, begging her to take him back.

He somehow contains himself, especially when he remembers what she did and he needs to keep that in mind.

She broke up with him through a letter. A _fucking_ letter.

‘You found me,’ she concludes. ‘I thought you’d figure out after what I told Lacey.’

He sighs. ‘Can we talk?’

She nods. ‘Sure, come in.’

He follows her inside and Kal is just as smitten with her like usual. Like nothing happened. From the looks of it, he already forgave her for disappearing like that. Henry wishes he could just do that. ‘You want something to drink?’ Sandy asks him.

‘Sure, some tea, if that’s possible.’

Her home looks already lovely, though it’s no where near finished. The walls are painted in a soft yellow color, a light brown coffee table and a sweet sofa that fits her aesthetic perfectly stands in the middle of the room.

‘I’m sorry, but it’s still a mess,’ he hears her say from the kitchen.

‘That’s okay.’

She walks back into the living room with two mugs. Two pink mugs. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t have something else.’

‘It’s fine, Sandy.’

‘Please, have a seat.’

God, this is so awkward. He sits down on the sofa, while she pulls a chair to the living room. They place their tea on the coffee table and from the looks of it, she’s not going to speak up first.

‘How are you?’

Sandy shrugs. ‘I’m okay. How are you?’

‘A fucking mess to be completely honest with you.’

He expected her to flinch, but she doesn’t. ‘I understand,’ she politely says. ‘It was the letter wasn’t it?’

Henry can’t sit on the sofa anymore. He stands up, straightens his jeans and starts to pace around her living room, like he has been doing these past few days. ‘Are you kidding me?’ he asks, trying to be calm and collected, but he feels his anger building up inside of him. Out of pure frustration, he slams his palm on the wall. ‘Damn it, Sandy,’ he yells, ‘I deserve to know why you broke up with me and just moved places, when we should’ve gone through this together. Why the fuck did you break up with me through a damn letter?’

She blinks her eyes faster and he recognizes it. She is tense, she is stressed and she is freaking out on the inside.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispers.

‘You are sorry? You should be, after what you put us through. Lacey, Jackson and I were so fucking worried about you, but when Lacey called your dad, to ask him if he had heard from you, the poor man nearly got a heart attack.’

‘Henry, please, could you stop for a second?’ she asks.

He doesn’t listen. He can’t listen. He ignores her pleads. ‘You scared the living shit out of us,’ he continues. ‘You just moved, in the midst of this mess. Is that why you wanted to be left alone? Did all those times that I call you, did you know that you were going to move?’

Sandy stands up and runs her fingers through her hair. ‘Henry, stop, please,’ she pleads again.

But still he refuses to listen. ‘I never knew you were so fucking selfish,’ he spits out. ‘I came back for you, I stalled my movie for you, I was thinking that after we got over this, after Danny got what he deserved, you and I could spend our time and energy on working on our forever.’ He clears his throat. ‘And then you fucking break up with me through a letter and just run away. How much of a coward are you?’

‘Henry, stop it!’ He never heard her raise her voice like that and Kal even looks up, worried because of what happened. ‘Fucking stop talking.’

He raises his hands in defense, but she doesn’t see it. She stares out of her window and takes a deep breath.

Fuck, Lacey warned him. Told him to be kind and what does he do? He yells at her. ‘Sandy,’ he finally whispers, after she stayed silent for such a long time. ‘Please, talk to me.’

‘Do you remember when you tried to kiss me in your car and I ran away?’

This is the moment she picks out to remind him of that terrible moment? God, a way to throw some salt into the wounds. ‘I remember that.’

‘I ran because I was scared. There was a situation that I wasn’t prepared for, so I ran away from it. I used to do it when I was younger too. It caused my mom and the rest of my family and even the teachers in school to call me a professional runaway. One time when I was seven I broke a vase and I knew deep down that my parents didn’t care for that sort of stuff, but I packed my bag with a bottle of water and a banana and I started running. I went to the beach, because that was the only place I knew. Later on in middle school, I had to recite the pledge of allegiance in front of the entire school, out of the blue. I sneaked out backstage and ran back home. In high school, I was unexpectedly picked out for ‘best dressed’ in the yearbook and I bailed on the day that we had to take a picture.’

Henry didn’t know that. There is a lot that he didn’t know about her. She’s still has her back turned to him. He can tell from her shoulders that she’s tense and he knows that part of that reason is him and his burst of anger.

‘But you should’ve told me at least where you went, Sandy. Not breaking up with me through a letter and just vanish.’

Kal slowly approaches her and she places her petite hand on his head. ‘What would you have done if this happened to you?’ she asks. ‘And don’t say what you wanted me to do. Think about this rationally and then tell me what you would’ve done in this situation.’

Henry leans against the wall and closes his eyes. ‘I’d probably would’ve deactivated my accounts as well,’ he admits. ‘But in a situation like this, I’d like to be comforted. I’d like to be held. To be told that I’m loved.’

He watches her turn around and he spots the tears in her eyes. He so desperately wants to yank her into his arms, kissing all those tears and sorrows away, telling her that she matters to him, that he’ll always love her and that this can not come between them.

‘Sandy,’ he whispers, ‘you are the love of my life.’

She is not making eye contact with him. It’s killing him that she’s not looking at him.

‘I love you,’ he continues. ‘And I want to be with you. Forever. I know that deep down, you didn’t want to break up with me. I might not understand why you did it, but I want to put this past us.’

‘But what about your reputation?’ she asks. ‘I highly doubt that being with me will be good for that.’

‘I don’t give a damn about that,’ he tells her. ‘I only care about you and our future together.’

She clears her throat.

‘And I’m sorry that I yelled at you,’ he continues. ‘I… I was just angry, but I should’ve let you talk about it first. The only thing I want is to understand you.’

‘Henry…’ She wants to say something else, but her voice simply gives up. She crouches down and a painful sob fills the empty room and is followed by many more.

Henry is paralyzed. What should he do? What should he say?

Kal walks over to him and gives him the literal push that he needs, like the big dog is asking him what the hell he is still doing there and not holding his girlfriend.

He finally finds the strength to walk over to her and sit on the floor. ‘Come here, sweetheart,’ he whispers, holding out his arms.

For a second she doesn’t respond and it’s giving Henry nasty flashbacks to that kissing accident in his car, but then she looks up and wraps her arms around him, sitting in between his thighs. ‘I’m so sorry, Henry,’ she cries. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you like this.’

For the first time he feels the tense muscles in her shoulders and he knows that she has been under a huge amount of stress. When they met for the first time, she was tense as well, but not like this.

Knowing how she can feel, he still proceeds to yell at her. He is such an idiot. If Lacey knew, she’d skin him alive.

Henry feels some tears on his own face and he wipes them away. ‘It’s okay, sweetheart.’

‘No, it’s not okay,’ she whispers. ‘I hurt you so much.’

‘You did, but we all deal with our problems our own way,’ he says. ‘Now that I know this, we can figure out something that we can both live with, okay?’

Sandy nods. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she says, when she pulls back a little. ‘You had every right to be mad at me. I truly hurt you.’

‘You did,’ he tells her in all honesty, ‘but you did what you have done all these years of your life. It’s understandable. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.’

‘It’s just… Are you sure you still want to be with me?’

Henry can’t help but scoff, before he lets out a chuckle. ‘I’m very sure that I still want to be with you.’

‘I’m scared of what will happen when I face the world again.’

‘I know, but remember: I’m always going to be there for you. I love you so much, my sweet Sandy Choi. We’ll figure this out.’

She smiles a bit. ‘I love you too, Henry Cavill.’

Henry doesn’t know how long they have sat there on the floor, but finally he asks if she has a bathtub here that works, because he needs to warm up her muscles. ‘Only a shower,’ her silent answer is.

He carries her upstairs, tells Kal to wait on the couch and he turns on the hot water in the shower. ‘Join me,’ she says, fisting the hem of his shirt. ‘I don’t want to be apart anymore.’

‘You sure you want me there?’ he asks, not wanting to overstep any over her boundaries.

‘More than anything in the world, Henry.’

He sheds himself from his clothing, before he helps her to strip out of hers. He can’t help but admire her naked body. ‘My beautiful girl,’ he whispers, kissing her forehead. He helps her to step into the cabin, before he joins her.

The first thing she does, is wrap her arms around his shoulders and he lifts her up, pulling her securely against his chest. Fuck, he didn’t know how much he missed her, but his heart aches when he feels her naked body against his.

‘Sweetheart,’ he whispers, his fingers drawing circles on her back.

‘Mhm.’

‘I love you.’

She pulls back her head and smiles at him. ‘I love you too.’

They are under the shower for a long time. He massages her shoulders, that are less tense by the time he is done, but seeing feeling her wet skin underneath his hands, makes him involuntarily hard.

‘Cavill, are you okay?’

‘I am,’ he whispers, still standing behind her. He leans down and sucks on the delicate skin in her neck, while his arms snake from her waist to her chest. A soft whimper leaves her lips, as he rolls her nipples between his fingers. ‘I missed you.’

‘I… I missed you too,’ she gasps, as she leans her head back against his chest. ‘Fuck, Henry.’

‘I missed feeling your hands on my body,’ he continues. ‘I missed feeling your body.’ He turns her around and looks at her lips. ‘Can I kiss you?’

‘Please.’

He leans down and crashes his lips on her. God, he missed her, he missed her so fucking much. His tongue invades her mouth and she moans against him. ‘Henry, I love you a lot, but I’m not going to have make up sex in the shower with you, because I don’t want to break my neck.’

He laughs, he laughs too hard, that it nearly makes him cry. ‘Of course, sweetheart.’ He turns off the water, throws her wet body over his shoulder and walks towards her bedroom, that was easy to find, since he saw it on his way upstairs. He places her on the bed, before he hovers above her body. ‘You are beautiful.’

She blushes. ‘Are we okay again?’

‘More than okay. This was a little set back.’

‘But…’ She places her hands on his biceps, her finger nails dragging across his skin, leaving tiny, barely unnoticeable marks. ‘How are we going to do this?’

‘Do what?’

‘Well, I kind of bought a house.’

He smirks, leaning down to kiss her. ‘I know and I think you and I can have a lot of fun here. Besides, it’s closer to Scotland. You might be able to visit me.’

She wraps her arms legs around his hips. ‘But what about your house in London?’

‘I’m selling that one, because there is no way on earth that I’m leaving you.’ He buries his face in her neck and she lets out a whimper. ‘Can I?’ he asks.

‘Can you what?’ she asks, her fingers racking through his messy curls.

‘Can I make love to you?’

She chuckles. ‘I’d love that, Henry Cavill.’


	17. Chapter 17

‘Don’t be nervous, sweetheart,’ Henry says when we’re in the back of the limousine, on our way to the red carpet event. He holds onto my hand and says: ‘You’ll do amazing.’

I have been to his red carpet events with him these past two years, but this one is different. I worked on this movie, since it’s based on my debut novel. ‘But what if I say something stupid? I mean, leave it to me to embarrass not only me, but you and the rest of the crew.’

‘You won’t,’ he laughs. ‘You don’t need to worry and remember: I’ve got your back, like I always do.’

Ever since Danny released those private pictures, we have been stronger than ever. He moved into our pink house, we adopted a few goats and some chickens, something Kal absolutely loves, since he chases the chickens with the goats on a daily basis. Danny has been charged with revenge porn and thankfully those pictures aren’t haunting me anymore. Two months after the pictures, I returned on YouTube and Instagram, but I’m not as frequent as I used to be, but the fans don’t mind actually. They told me I always need to take care of myself first and no matter how many videos I post, they are happy to watch whatever I bring out to the world.

Henry on the other hand is thriving with his YouTube videos and helping him with editing, is a full time job on its own.

A lot of people are very supportive of our relationship and honestly, I’m happy that he didn’t accept the break up letter. I think I would be in an even worse headspace, had he stayed out of my life.

Whenever we argue, I have to fight the urge not to turn around and run away, but with Henry’s broad body physically blocking the door, telling me that I’m stronger than that and that I can think about a response, I realize again how unhealthy it is to keep running, especially when you have a life that is worth staying for.

When my debut novel was going to be made into a movie, Henry automatically auditioned for the role of the history teacher. I hoped he would get the part, because he is talented, not because of our relationship. He got it and working with him on a daily basis outside of our house, was something I didn’t quite expect working out.

But of course it worked out. We’re Sandy Choi and Henry Cavill for crying out loud—we can conquer anything we want to.

‘We’re here,’ Henry says as the limousine stops. ‘You ready?’

‘No,’ I mumble.

‘Liar,’ he chuckles. He leans in to give me a soft kiss. ‘And when we’re back home,’ he whispers against my lips, ‘I’m going to tear that dress off of you and fuck the shit out of you.’

‘Henry Cavill,’ I say in a stern tone, my eyes wide out of pure shock and a bit excitement. ‘I didn’t pack an extra pair of panties with me, so please shut up.’

He can’t help but laugh, before he gets out of the car. He holds out his hand and helps me to step out. Henry looks handsome, but that is a fact. I take him in, his light blue suit that accentuates every good part of him: his thick arms, his thighs that I can’t wait to ride once I’m home and I know that his ass looks really delicious in that pair of pants. I’m wearing a short black dress, that shows off about ninety percent of my leg. It hugs me in all the right places and it has a deeper neckline than I’d usually opt for.

Henry wraps his fingers around mine, as the flashes are uncontrollable. ‘I’ve got you,’ he whispers, pressing a kiss on my forehead. ‘Together, remember?’

We walk down the red carpet and I take a deep breath. I can do this. Henry is with me, the entire cast and crew we worked with is here.

‘I love you,’ I say softly.

Henry breaks out in a dashing smile. ‘I love you too, sweetheart.’

After I’m nearly blind because of the pictures that were being taken, we go over to our first interview. I feel like I’m going to puke any second now, but I feel Henry’s heavy hand on the small of my back. ‘Sandy and Henry, I think congratulations are in order,’ the interviewer says. For a split second I’m afraid she thinks we got engaged, married or pregnant, but then I realize that none of that is true and that I shouldn’t care about what the news thinks about us. ‘I heard the movie is already being critiqued.’

‘How is that a good thing?’ It leaves my lips before I can even stop it.

The woman behind the microphone starts to laugh and I hear Henry chuckle as well.

Great, people are laughing at me already and we barely started this interview. ‘It’s a good thing, sweetheart,’ Henry explains. He tells me how the first critiques already released their reviews and that those are promising.

‘Oh, sorry,’ I say, frowning in apology.

‘No need to. It’s endearing, love,’ the woman says. ‘So, how was it working together with your boyfriend, Sandy?’

Why am I blushing? ‘It was great,’ I say, before clearing my throat. ‘We worked together on his YouTube channel of course, so we kind of understand each other work ethics, which made working together for this movie a lot easier.’

Henry pulls me closer to him, a silent sign that he is proud of me.

‘And Henry, it must’ve been nice to be with your girlfriend during filming.’

He nods. ‘I love spending time with her and the fact that both her and Kal could be there on the set, was like a dream come true.’

‘As a freshly minted couple, you had quite the challenges thrown at you. It has been almost two years since that all happened, but I have to ask: what is the secret of staying together during a time like that? Not to be very negative or anything, but we have seen couples break up for stuff far less worse than this.’

Goodness, that’s a deep question for on a red carpet. I hadn’t prepared anything like this.

Thankfully I’m not here alone, because Henry has found all the right words. ‘Communication is key, but to limit communication to simply talking about your feelings and all that, will not help. You have to fully understand the other person, understand what drives them, their first responses to certain situations. When we first met, we didn’t understand each other. We had different ways of dealing with certain situations and problems and we had to learn to look past that and to learn to love one another, no matter what their coping mechanism is.’

I’m at a loss for words and I can’t stop the smile that creeps on my face. I hear the interviewer say something, but I don’t register it anymore. I’m too mesmerized by those wise words he just told the interviewer and basically the entire world.

Henry and I continue to walk along, but I stop him mid step, when it’s obvious the microphones can’t pick up our conversation. ‘What is it, sweetheart?’ he asks. ‘Are you okay?’

‘You are amazing, did you know that?’

He chuckles. ‘Yeah, I’m aware.’

‘Learn how to take a compliment, you ungrateful idiot.’

Henry wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me flush against his chest. ‘Thank you, Sandy. I meant every word I said back there. We are doing well.’

I nod. ‘We certainly are.’ I stand on my toes, though I’m already in heels and give him a kiss on his lips. I was intending for a short peck, but I should’ve known that he’d pull me back, to deepen the kiss. Back home I can never kiss him for a second, it always turns into a near make-out session, no matter how long we’ve been dating. ‘Promise me we’re forever,’ I whisper against his lips, just like every other day. I need to hear that confirmation, I need to hear it from his lips.

And just like every day that has passed, he smiles and whispers: ‘We, Sandy Choi, future Sandy Cavill, are forever.’

He never added the Sandy Cavill part. ‘Excuse me?’ I ask. ‘What?’

Henry has a telling smile on his face. ‘Come with me,’ he whispers in my ear. He drags me with him and we walk around a corner to a place where no one can interrupt us. ‘I know you and I also know that if I’m going to propose to you out of nowhere, you’ll freak out.’

A blush forms on my cheeks. ‘You know me too well.’

‘So, my plan is to propose to you on New Years eve,’ he tells me. ‘But I want to prepare you for the change. I want to prepare you for the proposal and for your future as Sandy Cavill.’

I blink away the tears. ‘You want to wife me, Henry?’

‘I want to wife you, Sandy.’ He wraps his arms around my waist, but his hands travel down dangerously close to the curve of my ass. ‘God, this dress is doing things to me. How about we ditch the rest of the premiere and we do some nice bedroom activities, while we practice the “Mrs. Cavill” name for you.’

‘As tempting as that may sound,’ I chuckle, ‘this is the first time a red carpet event is about me, so no, we’re staying.’ I place my hands in the back of his neck, folding my fingers together. ‘But Henry, I have to thank you.’

‘For what?’

‘For telling me that you want to propose to me.’

‘Well, I know that if I surprise you, we have the near kiss in the car accident two point o and I don’t want to risk that.’

I laugh, before I lean in and give him a long kiss on his lips. His tongue slips passed my lips and I moan against his mouth. ‘Slow down,’ I chuckle. ‘I need to look presentable.’

‘Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to stain these light colored pants.’

I pinch his armpit, causing him to yelp. ‘Idiot.’

‘But I’m your idiot,’ he says. When we walk back into the crowd, he adds: ‘Future Mrs. Cavill.’


End file.
